Uber self-driving car kills a pedestrian

webby

webby

Administrator
Admin
Toys For Tots
55,520
23,812
Uber halts self-driving car tests after first known death of a pedestrian

Uber is temporarily halting self-driving car tests in all locations after a deadly accident, in what is likely the first pedestrian fatality caused by a self-driving car.

Programs in San Francisco, Pittsburgh, Phoenix and Toronto will be paused after a woman was hit and killed overnight by an Uber self-driving car when walking across a street in Tempe, Arizona.

The Governors Highway Safety Association estimates that there were about 5,984 pedestrian fatalities in 2017, and none have been publicly linked to an autonomous vehicle, but crash-reporting standards for incidents involving autonomous vehicles are still evolving.

There was a vehicle operator in the car but no passengers at the time of the accident, according to Tempe police, which responded to the scene at around 10 p.m. on Sunday. The 49-year-old victim died after being transported to a local hospital, police said.

"Our hearts go out to the victim's family. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident," Uber said in a statement.


A spokesman for the National Transportation Safety Board told CNBC it is investigating the accident. The The Arizona governor's office said it is talking with law enforcement. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating the incident.

A year ago, Uber suspended the same program after a different Arizona crash which did not result in any serious injuries.

The NTSB has already scrutinized accidents involving Tesla's autopilot technology, but those cars operate with different technology than what Uber was testing.

Uber's self-driving car business has already seen setbacks after it was embroiled in a lawsuit with Alphabet's
Waymo for much of the past year. That case was recently settled under Uber's new leadership.

https://www.cnbc.com/2018/03/19/ube...-halts-testing-in-all-cities-report-says.html
 
Yeeeeeaaaaahhhh.....time to go hide under a rock.
 
Yeah... Saw this all over the news yesterday :/

One news source said that she was not in the cross-walk. Not sure how far out of it she was thought but it is sad regardless.
 
And even if Uber is not legally at fault, critics may ask whether the vehicle could have done more to anticipate the possibility that the woman might step in front of the Uber vehicle and take appropriate defensive measures—perhaps slowing down or changing lanes to give her a wider berth.
Click to expand...

Not sure how I feel about this last part of the article. Is the autonomous car(or actual people driving their own cars) supposed to be mind readers?

I know I sure as poop do not slow down when driving next to a sidewalk incase their might be people on the sidewalk. Even less when I can't really see them in a dimly light or non lit section of road.
 
  • Thread starter
  • Staff
  • #9
Uhh that seems messed up. No clue how the various radar systems didn’t pick up on that at all?!?
 
UPDATE

Self-Driving Uber Detected Pedestrian But Failed To Brake In Fatal Crash

Uber’s self-driving vehicle involved in a fatal impact on March 18 detected an object in the road six seconds before the crash.

In a preliminary report published by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), it was concluded that the self-driving software classified 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as an unknown object, then as a vehicle, and finally as a bicycle as the two converged.

At just 1.3 seconds before the collision, the self-driving system determined that emergency braking was needed. However, automatic emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled when the vehicle is in self-driving mode and the human operator is relied on to intervene and respond.

Weirdly, “the system is not designed to alert the operator,” the NTSB report states. The crash raised safety concerns about self-driving vehicles

During interviews with the NTSB, the vehicle operator said she had been monitoring the self-driving interface prior to the impact. She engaged the steering wheel less than a second before impact and began braking less than a second after impact.

The NTSB seems to lay partial blame on the pedestrian as well. It was concluded that she didn’t look in the direction of the vehicle until just before impact, her bicycle didn’t have side reflectors and she crossed the road in a section without road lighting. Additionally, post-accident toxicology results were positive for methamphetamine and marijuana.

Shortly before the NTSB published its report, the ride-hailing company confirmed that it had suspended its autonomous test program in Arizona.

https://twitter.com/TempePolice/status/976585098542833664
 
Hulu Records Show Uber Driver Was Watching The Voice Television Show During Crash

The employee behind the wheel of an autonomous Uber prototype that killed a bicyclist in Arizona was watching Hulu in the seconds leading up to the accident. A report published by the Tempe Police Department says that Rafaela Vasquez was repeatedly looking down prior to the fatal crash.

Upon further investigation, and after obtaining records from Hulu, the police determined that Vasquez was streaming ‘The Voice’ for 42 minutes on her phone throughout the night. She stopped watching at 9:59 pm, which the report says “coincides with the approximate time of the collision.” It was also concluded that Vasquez started watching the talent show just minutes after starting the drive that night. The report says Vasquez could face charges of vehicle manslaughter.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top