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A self-driving Uber SUV struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. It was in autonomous mode at the time of the collision, with a vehicle operator behind the wheel. Uber has suspended testing of its self-driving cars.
http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-autonomous-car-fatal-crash/index.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-driverless-fatality.html
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/self-driving-uber-kills-arizona-171055918.html
https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2018/03/19/594950197/uber-suspends-self-driving-tests-after-pedestrian-is-killed-in-arizona
https://www.wsj.com/articles/uber-suspends-driverless-car-program-after-pedestrian-is-struck-and-killed-1521480386
https://www.theverge.com/2018/3/19/17139518/uber-self-driving-car-fatal-crash-tempe-arizona
https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/19/uber-self-driving-test-car-involved-in-accident-resulting-in-pedestrian-death/
I couldn't find any good analysis of the liability situation here.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by vux984 on Tuesday March 20 2018, @11:14PM (2 children)
Take a look at the photo of the site:
https://jalopnik.com/video-shows-pedestrian-in-fatal-uber-crash-stepped-in-f-1823922228 [jalopnik.com]
This *seems* to show a fairly open area. A fairly wide median. The bike had white plastic bags on it that would have caught the headlights. The person was walking the bike so not moving terribly fast. I understand that these kinds of accidents happen, but it's kind of hard to believe that an attentive driver would have had zero warning, zero chance to react. And would have failed to at least hit the brakes before striking the pedestrian. Even if the accident couldn't have been avoided, I'm still surprised the brakes weren't even applied; especially by a computer with better reaction times than me.
I also find the comments that she wasn't at the crosswalk to be ... misleading. Would the vehicle really have stopped if she'd been at the crosswalk? Is uber running a different algorithm for crosswalks? If she'd been approaching the crosswalk and just walked out into the crosswalk without looking, would the vehicle have stopped in time then? Crosswalks at best have better lighting, and you aren't allowed to park right adjacent to them to help sight lines, but im not seeing a sightline issue here, and id thought autonomous vehicles could cope with lower light levels better than people so the "shadows" should have been less a problem.
I'm also seeing some followup that the vehicle didn't have "time to stop", which I don't really find suspicious. What i find worrying is that everything i can see suggests the vehicle really should have had time to at least hit the brakes though.
(Score: 1) by pTamok on Wednesday March 21 2018, @08:37AM (1 child)
There is a really good Twitter thread about the infrastructure design at the accident site.
https://twitter.com/EricPaulDennis/status/975891554538852352/photo/1 [twitter.com]
There are pedestrian footways build on the 'median', which are exactly where a good engineer would put them, but 'closed off' with signs, but no fences.
Well worth reading.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by vux984 on Wednesday March 21 2018, @10:29PM
Wow, yeah... I mean, it's still clear the pedestrian shouldn't be there. But talk about setting things up to fail. And I find it ever less convincing that a human driver would ever found completely faultless for striking a pedestrian walking there, without so much as attempting to brake. It's just wide open. The pedestrian was walking. Its not like they were hiding behind a truck and jumped out in front of traffic to try and commit suicide.
The pedestrian has responsibility too; they aren't innocent but the driver/vehicle should have had some time to react.
But I just don't see how uber could get a complete walk on this; even if they weren't charged for the accident (which I'd understand; lots of accidents end without charges -- accidents happen and I'm not at the point of saying uber was criminally malicious or negligent); but you'd think in terms of insurance they'd have at least some liability.