Self-Driving Uber Car Kills Arizona Pedestrian

[Rion]

Personally, I'm more scared of people reverse engineering self-driving cars to commit remote acts of terrorism.

Think it's bad when someone hacks your facebook or phone? Wait 'til they do your car.

 

[pgp_protector]

Almost guarantee there's going to be lots of data on that cars computer that they'll be able to review, including if breaks were applied, what the computer saw, how long a time delay between the person entering the roadway and the car seeing them,ect.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

...

 

[wing2000]

At the same time, I'm concerned that we're putting too many of our eggs in one basket with self-driving cars. It seems we decided, at some point, that encouraging humans to be better drivers was impossible and that technology had to "save" us from ourselves.

...it seems a good segment of our society believes it's possible to text and drive at the same time. At least with an automated car, I know the computer is paying attention...

 

[Ringo84]

...it seems a good segment of our society believes it's possible to text and drive at the same time. At least with an automated car, I know the computer is paying attention...

True, but a more simple solution would be to criminalize messing with phones while driving, and improve driver education.
Ringo

 

[pgp_protector]

I know that if an Uber showed up for me, and nobody was in the driver's seat, I am not getting in. No way am I going to let some robot drive me. In my book. This is relying too much on technology.

As far as I know, currently even the automated cars still require a driver to be at the wheel.

 

[Bible Highlighter]

As far as I know, currently even the automated cars still require a driver to be at the wheel.

Ah, okay. That's better.

 

[Kentonio]

"A video recording from the Uber self-driving car that struck and killed a woman Sunday shows that she moved in front of it suddenly, a factor that investigators are likely to focus on as they assess the performance of the technology in the first pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous vehicle.

The Uber had a forward-facing video recorder, which showed the woman was walking a bike at about 10 p.m. and came from a darkened center median into traffic and "it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode,” Tempe, Arizona, police chief Sylvia Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle.

"The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them," Moir said, referring to the back-up driver who was behind the wheel but not operating the vehicle. "His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision."

Video Shows Woman Stepped Suddenly in Front of Self-Driving Uber

 

[FenderTL5]

Piecing the information together from the various news stories, both in print and broadcast - it would seem the pedestrian, pushing a bike was attempting to cross from the median on the left here:
.

 

[FenderTL5]

"A video recording from the Uber self-driving car that struck and killed a woman Sunday shows that she moved in front of it suddenly, a factor that investigators are likely to focus on as they assess the performance of the technology in the first pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous vehicle.

The Uber had a forward-facing video recorder, which showed the woman was walking a bike at about 10 p.m. and came from a darkened center median into traffic and "it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode,” Tempe, Arizona, police chief Sylvia Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle.

"The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them," Moir said, referring to the back-up driver who was behind the wheel but not operating the vehicle. "His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision."

Video Shows Woman Stepped Suddenly in Front of Self-Driving Uber

Unless the uber was in the inside left turn lane - then the person would have already crossed two lanes before being struck.

Autonomous or not, it would seem that every pedestrian killed by a car was a suicidal, jump in front of a car...

As one who uses a bicycle/walking and transit as my primary means of work commuting.. I'm skeptical of the story so far.. and of course a dead man (woman in this case) can tell no tale.

 

[Kentonio]

Unless the uber was in the inside left turn lane - then the person would have already crossed two lanes before being struck.

Autonomous or not, it would seem that every pedestrian killed by a car was a suicidal, jump in front of a car...

As one who uses a bicycle/walking and transit as my primary means of work commuting.. I'm skeptical of the story so far.. and of course a dead man (woman in this case) can tell no tale.

Apparently the victim also had a history of drug addiction. I don’t know how relevant is it to this incident though.

 

[bhsmte]

...it seems a good segment of our society believes it's possible to text and drive at the same time. At least with an automated car, I know the computer is paying attention...

I drive a lot and see this all the time. To me, this is a major safety issue in the United States today and even worse than those driving under the influence.

 

[grasping the after wind]

I was making a point about human nature and its tendency to exagerate dangers. Like how people are afraid of getting eaten by sharks or terrorists.

You certainly have fooled me. I'm supposed to garner that point that from this post?

Nithavela said: ↑
And now this technology will be set back for months, if not entirely nixed because of a loss of trust, while every day thousands are killed by human drivers.

 

[grasping the after wind]

I drive a lot and see this all the time. To me, this is a major safety issue in the United States today and even worse than those driving under the influence.

People usually are not alcoholically impaired 24/7 while the text addicts never seem to come up for a breath of the real world.

 

[wing2000]

Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir told The Arizona Republic on Tuesday the crash was "unavoidable" based on an initial police investigation and a review of the video.

The Volvo was traveling about 40 mph and made no visible attempt to brake in the video, police have said. The speed limit in the area is 35 mph.

Dashcam video available at the link....

Video shows moments before fatal Uber crash in Tempe

 

[wing2000]

...from the NTSB report:

The Uber self-driving car detected a woman crossing the road on March 18 six seconds before striking and killing her, but it did not brake or alert the driver, who video showed was not watching the roadway.
....
Both Uber's emergency braking as well as the factory-installed emergency-braking system on the Volvo XC90 were disabled, in part to reduce the jerkiness of the ride.

The software was attempting to identify the object.....and then "....with 1.3 seconds before impact, the self-driving system determined braking was needed to avoid a collision, but it didn't brake, leaving that duty to the driver."

Uber disabled emergency brakes on self-driving car prior to fatal crash, NTSB says

[Uber has previously announced it is abandoning the self-driving car project in AZ]

 

[Nithavela]

Well, not the AI's fault if critical systems are turned off.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

Well, not the AI's fault if critical systems are turned off.

Yep. Human error strikes again.

 

[GoldenBoy89]

No pun intended.

 

[wing2000]

Yep. Human error strikes again.

...yes, humans aren't doing so well.

In 2015, 5,736 pedestrians on U.S. roads were killed, and in 2014, an average of one pedestrian was killed every two hours and injured every seven minutes, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.

Pedestrian deaths prompt Mesa police to watch for jaywalkers