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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:01AM   Printer-friendly
from the details-details dept.

[Update: 05/28 23:38 GMT by mrcoolbp : It appears the driver was testing the auto-braking and/or pedestrian detection packages that the car didn't seem to have. The human driver was in control of the vehicle. This is an at-fault driver, not a 'self-driving' incident. We apologize for any confusion.]

As a group of journalists gathered in the Dominican Republic to report on the self-parking Volvo XC60 (video of the accident available), the group watched as the car reversed itself, then drove into the crowd at speed:

The accident may have happened because owners have to pay for a special feature known as "pedestrian detection functionality," which costs extra. The cars do have auto-braking features as standard, but only for avoiding other cars — if they are to avoid crashing into pedestrians, too, then owners must pay extra.

"It appears as if the car in this video is not equipped with Pedestrian detection," Volvo spokesperson Johan Larsson told Fusion. "This is sold as a separate package."

The pedestrian detection feature, which works using radar behind the grill and a camera in the windshield, costs approximately $3000. The two men injured in the accident were bruised but otherwise OK.


[Editor's Comment: Original Submission]

Related Stories

Self Driving Cars: Not so Accident Free after All 63 comments

According to an article by the AP - via an ad-free site several of the self driving cars licensed to drive in California have been involved in accidents.

Most are slow speed accidents, apparently with no injuries.

Four of the nearly 50 self-driving cars now rolling around California have gotten into accidents since September, when the state began issuing permits for companies to test them on public roads. Two accidents happened while the cars were in control; in the other two, the person who still must be behind the wheel was driving, a person familiar with the accident reports told The Associated Press.

Three involved Lexus SUVs that Google Inc. outfitted with sensors and computing power in its aggressive effort to develop "autonomous driving," a goal the tech giant shares with traditional automakers. The parts supplier Delphi Automotive had the other accident with one of its two test vehicles. Google and Delphi said their cars were not at fault in any accidents, which the companies said were minor.

Neither the companies involved, nor the State of California will release details of these accidents, which rankles some critics.

Four accidents involving these 50 cars in 8 months may seem a little high. Google's 23 cars have driven 140,000 miles in that time and racked up 3 accidents all by them selves. That is an order of magnitude higher than the National Transportation Safety Board's figures of 0.3 per 100,000 for non injury accidents. However the NTSB doesn't collect all fender bender accidents.

The article says that none of the other states that permit self driving cars have any record of accidents.

Volvo Demonstrates Interior for Self-driving Car; Will Join with Microsoft 7 comments

In February, Volvo had announced that in 2017 it would test 100 autonomous cars on certain roads in Gothenburg, Sweden.

At this week's Los Angeles Auto Show, Volvo showed its prototype of what the interior of an autonomous car might look like. It features a folding tray table built into the driver's door, a 25-inch video display in the glove compartment, and a tablet-like screen in the center console.

The Chinese-owned automaker demonstrated three different configurations of the interior: "Drive," in which a person drives the car; "Create," in which the occupants occupy themselves with reading or using a laptop computer; and "Relax," in which the driver's-side seat reclines and the occupants look at videos on the 25-inch screen.

Björn Annwall, a senior vice president at the company, said that its planned autonomous cars would be developed together with Microsoft, and that the two companies are "exploring a number of different collaborations."

[Additional Coverage After the Break]

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  • (Score: 5, Funny) by looorg on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:05AM

    by looorg (578) on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:05AM (#189029)

    "pedestrian detection functionality" sounds more like a/the Carmageddon feature. The car can track other cars but tracking humans is an extra.

  • (Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:08AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:08AM (#189030)

    [Unit]
    Description=PedestrianDetect
    After=parking.service
    Requires=parking.service

    [Service]
    TimeoutStartSec=0
    ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/parking kill parking1
    ExecStartPre=-/usr/bin/parking rm parking1
    ExecStartPre=/usr/bin/parking pull parking
    ExecStart=/usr/bin/parking run --name parking1 pedestrian /bin/sh -c "while true; do echo Hello World; sleep 1; done"

    [Install]
    WantedBy=multi-user.target

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:41PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:41PM (#189093)

      -1: Flamebait?

      Clearly the bootlicking sycophant asstroturfers from the military-industrial-ubuntu-redhat complex have arrived at soylent, and are downmodding.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:22AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:22AM (#189032)

    1 - The driver was not using auto park, no auto park drives that fast.
    2 - Volvo auto park does not accelerate by itself, you have to hit the accelerator.
    3 - He just drove into some people, made stupid excuses, and it was blindly re-posted here.
    4 - Pedestrian avoidance is for driving under 30 km/hr forwards, i don't think it would have had an effect here.

    • (Score: 5, Funny) by Vanderhoth on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:47AM

      by Vanderhoth (61) on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:47AM (#189036)

      Running over journalists... I thought it was a feature.

      I don't trust the article either, but where did you get your information refuting it?

      --
      "Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
      • (Score: 5, Informative) by Vanderhoth on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:06AM

        by Vanderhoth (61) on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:06AM (#189039)

        After watching the video, to me it looks like the driver was trying to show off the "auto braking" feature that stops the car from running into a wall or other cars. It looks like it had nothing to do with self-parking. That's likely fear mongering some people are pushing agendas with.

        It was likely the driver putting full force on the gas expecting the car to stop itself before hitting the people.

        Although I can't be 100%, I'm pretty sure this was driver error.

        --
        "Now we know", "And knowing is half the battle". -G.I. Joooooe
        • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Thursday May 28 2015, @05:38PM

          by frojack (1554) on Thursday May 28 2015, @05:38PM (#189209) Journal

          Although I can't be 100%, I'm pretty sure this was driver error.

          Well there is a lesson in that for all of us, is there not?

          After all, regardless of how the car was or was not equipped, the manufacturer will invariably blame the driver.

          Personally, I can't see any evidence that auto-park was being attempted either.

          --
          No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
          • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @07:53PM

            by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @07:53PM (#189280)

            There is no evidence of anything except that the vehicle was accelerating and did hit some journalists. Anything else shows blatant bias with ignorant speculation.

        • (Score: 2) by mrcoolbp on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:43PM

          by mrcoolbp (68) <mrcoolbp@soylentnews.org> on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:43PM (#189400) Homepage

          After a read-through of the article, it appears you are right. I've updated the story to that effect. Thanks to you and the AC for pointing this out.

          --
          (Score:1^½, Radical)
    • (Score: 3, Touché) by CoolHand on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:17PM

      by CoolHand (438) on Thursday May 28 2015, @03:17PM (#189118) Journal

      He just drove into some people, made stupid excuses, and it was blindly re-posted here.

      Well, I can't speak for the author, but most of the editors don't have time (or desire) to read that site. I know that cmn32480 and I don't. So I would object to saying it was "blindly reposted." All your other points may be valid.

      --
      Anyone who is capable of getting themselves made President should on no account be allowed to do the job-Douglas Adams
  • (Score: 4, Funny) by kaszz on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:41AM

    by kaszz (4211) on Thursday May 28 2015, @10:41AM (#189035) Journal

    Hey my car won't stop! ..That's because you didn't buy our exclusive extra deal on break pedals. Just pay $5000 for a brake system and you'll be fine.

  • (Score: 5, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:51AM

    by wonkey_monkey (279) on Thursday May 28 2015, @11:51AM (#189049) Homepage

    The car did nothing. The driver floored it, because he was expecting the pedestrian detection to kick in and take over, which it did not - since it wasn't installed.

    --
    systemd is Roko's Basilisk
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:38PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 28 2015, @02:38PM (#189091)

      To its credit, the car did actually stop rather than flatten them into the road like a meat pancake.

      • (Score: 2) by wonkey_monkey on Friday May 29 2015, @07:13AM

        by wonkey_monkey (279) on Friday May 29 2015, @07:13AM (#189547) Homepage

        To its credit, the car did actually stop

        Only because the driver stomped on the brakes when he realised he was a fucking idiot.

        --
        systemd is Roko's Basilisk
  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by cafebabe on Saturday May 30 2015, @11:16AM

    by cafebabe (894) on Saturday May 30 2015, @11:16AM (#190063) Journal
    I mentioned this to a friend and his response can be summarized as "Excellent! Does it hit lawyers too?"
    --
    1702845791×2