Self driving car kills a pedestrian

[imported_tajmahal]

We all knew it was coming. The time one of the self driving robot cars kills a pedestrian or kills people in other vehicles. Who gets prosecuted? The disconnected driver? Uber ? The engineers and technicians that put it on the road? The victim that walked outside the lines?


https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/ube...-halts-testing-in-all-cities-report-says.html

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/03/19/arizona-pedestrian-is-killed-by-uber-self-driving-car/

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/19/self-driving-uber-car-kills-arizona-pedestrian-police-say.html


"Officials said an Arizona woman was killed after being struck by a self-driving Uber vehicle early Monday -- an incident believed to be the first of its kind.

The accident in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe caused the company to pause all testing of self-driving vehicles in cities across the country.

Tempe Police Sgt. Ronald Elcock told FOX10 Phoenix the woman was walking outside of a crosswalk when she was struck by the vehicle.

The woman was taken to a nearby hospital, where she later died, according to police. "

 

[ElFenix]

uber is going to get a big wrongful death suit filed against it, i know that.

 

[BoomerD]

Obligatory..."But she was jaywalking so it's HER fault!"

 

[sandorski]

Will be interesting to see the results of the investigation. The car likely doesn't care about the lines for pedestrians as these systems are usually monitoring objects that are moving or present within it's sensor range. I suspect the person in question may have stepped out between or from behind a vehicle that the sensors couldn't detect her presence in time to prevent collision.

 

[Commodus]

What's frustrating is that this will probably trigger at least a mild backlash against self-driving vehicles, even though they should ultimately be safer than human-piloted cars.

Yes, something clearly went wrong, and yes, this is tragic and would ideally have been avoidable. But I'm worried this will lead to knee-jerk reactions in the public and legislatures rather than a careful, considered response that might lead to better regulation and cultural understanding.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Damn, and I was hoping robots would replace teachers in the next few years too.

 

[dank69]

Time for self walking legs.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Obligatory..."But she was jaywalking so it's HER fault!"

It probably was her fault. Human drivers injure or kill jaywalkers all the time, because it isn't always easy to stop in time when someone dashes into traffic, especially at night. And if a car does stop without warning that could cause an accident with the cars behind it. Crosswalks exist for a reason.

Uber management are (or at least were) scum who deserve prison time for their law-breaking and abuse of their "contractors," but they aren't always in the wrong. Just most of the time.

 

[zinfamous]

Everyone knew it was coming, and everyone knew that a single death from a self-driving car would receive 10 times the attention and anger of the hundreds of human-driven cars that kill pedestrians.

 

[VirtualLarry]

Good. I hope that the AZ Legislature takes up deliberation on passing a law to BAN those so-called "self driving" vehicles.

Edit: With apologies and condolences to the family of the deceased.

 

[DaveSimmons]

Good. I hope that the AZ Legislature takes up deliberation on passing a law to BAN those so-called "self driving" vehicles.

Edit: With apologies and condolences to the family of the deceased.

Why? If this was a case where a human would have hit the jaywalker too (like them darting out from behind a truck) then Skynet was not at fault this time.

I'm not sure about their current safety, but if not already then eventually self-driving cars will be safer than the typical human driver.

 

[XavierMace]

Good. I hope that the AZ Legislature takes up deliberation on passing a law to BAN those so-called "self driving" vehicles.

Edit: With apologies and condolences to the family of the deceased.

Because manned cars never hit pedestrians? Oh, wait, there WAS an operator in this car.

 

[cfenton]

This only seems like a problem for the technology if a human driver would have done better. Since there was someone in the car, presumably for that exact purpose, that seems unlikely.

 

[Jaskalas]

Automated vehicles will save thousands of lives every year.

The most dangerous time is during their prototyping and introduction period. AKA, the next decade. EVERY single vehicle will get the experience of this incident and apply a community approved instructional "fix" for every future scenario of a person stepping out in front of it.

If the vehicle / technology was in anyway "at fault" for this death, it will be improved to prevent the next one.

 

[Cozarkian]

1. Are we sure the human driver didn't override the AI by stepping on the gas?

2. Did the human driver try to step on the breakers? If not, was it because it happened too fast or because the driver want paying attention?

I think the above are important questions that need answered to evaluate this case.

 

[XavierMace]

This only seems like a problem for the technology if a human driver would have done better. Since there was someone in the car, presumably for that exact purpose, that seems unlikely.

Exactly. You can't fix stupid and physics limit how much the car can do regardless of what's controlling it. I don't want the pedestrian dead, but I'm all for a love tap that says "Hey jackass, watch where you're going".

ARS 28-793. Crossing at other than crosswalk

A. A pedestrian crossing a roadway at any point other than within a marked crosswalk or within an unmarked crosswalk at an intersection shall yield the right-of-way to all vehicles on the roadway.

The location where the accident occurred has no street parking and the car had the right of way. Therefore the pedestrian was at fault, with tragic consequences.

 

[Cozarkian]

Exactly. You can't fix stupid and physics limit how much the car can do regardless of what's controlling it. I don't want the pedestrian dead, but I'm all for a love tap that says "Hey jackass, watch where you're going".



The location where the accident occurred has no street parking and the car had the right of way. Therefore the pedestrian was at fault, with tragic consequences.

One area humans might be better is in perceiving potential dangerous situations. A human can more easily read body language be to determine whether a pedestrian is about to enter the street. If that is the case here, though, then the only problem with the car was that the driver was too reliant on it and not paying attention.

 

[umbrella39]

Stupid people are hit and killed by cars all the time when it is completely their fault. Is this rule of law going to change if the car is self driving...

Not saying that is the case here but this will continue to happen regardless of who is or isn't behind the wheel. Not saying this woman is at fault that remains to be seen...

 

[sportage]

How many drinks of oil had the car taken in the last 24 hours?
What was its oil level?
Could this self driving mass of metal and plastic have been "impaired"?
And was this self driven car using unleaded or SUPER UNLEADED?
Maybe this car was holding a grudge against its creator?
Like with old Frankenstein.

 

[umbrella39]

Damn, and I was hoping robots would replace teachers in the next few years too.

Well then clearly some of these robots will need to be armed...

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Good. I hope that the AZ Legislature takes up deliberation on passing a law to BAN those so-called "self driving" vehicles.

Edit: With apologies and condolences to the family of the deceased.

The time to stop them is now, before more innocent civilians die.

 

[XavierMace]

One area humans might be better is in perceiving potential dangerous situations. A human can more easily read body language be to determine whether a pedestrian is about to enter the street. If that is the case here, though, then the only problem with the car was that the driver was too reliant on it and not paying attention.

Humans CAN ready body language if they're paying attention. The majority of drivers these days are not, self driving car or otherwise. Also keep in mind this accident occurred at night. Even if the driver was paying attention there's other factors, lighting, the pedestrians clothes. Especially if the pedestrian was coming from the center median rather than the sidewalk side. Most people don't really check a median for pedestrians because they're not supposed to be crossing there.

 

[Mai72]

One perosn died from a self driving car. 1!

How many people die at the hands from other humans? ITS IN THE THOUSANDS.

1 vs Thousands.

 

[imported_tajmahal]

Well then clearly some of these robots will need to be armed...

Nah, with all the money they save replacing teachers they can afford to hire the best security.

 

[cytg111]

1. reproduce the fault in a simulation
2. fix code / learning sets for the AI
3. prove it works
Continue.
That is whats going to happen