Uber Self-driving Vehicle Accident Results In Pedestrian Fatality In Arizona...

An autonomous Uber test SUV driving in Tempe, Arizona was involved in a fatal collision, and the Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode at the time the accident occurred, according to Tempe Police...

FYI...The AV had a safety driver at the wheel...Safety drivers are in place in order to be able to take control of the autonomous test vehicle in case the self-driving system should fail or appear to be at risk of endangering others on the road.


https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/19/u...n-accident-resulting-in-pedestrian-death/amp/

That definitely sucks. It was bound to happen sooner or later. The AV aspect may not have much to do with things, though. Looks like the victim stepped out in front of the car, while not in a crosswalk.

IMO, the whole "safety driver" thing where a human is supposed to take over in an emergency is a very poor system. It's hard enough for humans to react fast enough and make split-second decisions when actually driving. The better the AVs get, and the more miles the AVs rack up without incident, the less the drivers will be able to concentrate and monitor the situation, and the slower their reactions will be.

I wonder if the UBER driver will have to go through re-training and maybe their boss too. The driver may have been under the impression that the autonomous driving was perfectly safe. The woman jay-walking, well that her fault isn't it. But now we have to consider kids running out from between cars, drunks wandering around and others not following the "rules of the road". It will be interesting to see if the driver or the programmer(s) will be held liable for the damages.

Made in USA said:

I wonder if the UBER driver will have to go through re-training and maybe their boss too. The driver may have been under the impression that the autonomous driving was perfectly safe. The woman jay-walking, well that her fault isn't it. But now we have to consider kids running out from between cars, drunks wandering around and others not following the "rules of the road". It will be interesting to see if the driver or the programmer(s) will be held liable for the damages.

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I had a similar question regarding the Faraday Future self driving car. They touted a mode where you could park your car, go shop, then when done use an app on your phone to have you car drive to you. But if it gets in an accident on the way, who is to blame? The owner of the car who was not even in it? The programmers of the software?

Elio Engineering (ESG) has an address in Tempe. I hope Paul is OK. I almost got run down by a car while crossing the street while drinking my Venti Cappuccino.

Made in USA said:

It will be interesting to see if the driver or the programmer(s) will be held liable for the damages.

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I belive the linked article statest that the safety driver is responsible for the AV, and they could be held responsible for the accident. This will doubtless be caught in litigation for quite some time. Hopefully Uber doesn't just throw the safety driver under the bus. (Or maybe in front of the AV?)

Maurtis said:

I had a similar question regarding the Faraday Future self driving car. They touted a mode where you could park your car, go shop, then when done use an app on your phone to have you car drive to you. But if it gets in an accident on the way, who is to blame? The owner of the car who was not even in it? The programmers of the software?

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I would think it would have to be the owner of the vehicle, at least initially. Of course, there is still also a lot of open room for litigation in that. If the manufacturer warrants that sending your car to park itself is safe and effective, and you tell it to do just that, then there should be reasonable expectation that it will perform that safely. I would think that the owner's task in that kind of litigation would be in proving that the manufacturer was negligent in its reponsibility, and made false/fraudulent claims regarding the vehicles fitness for purpose.

In short, it could be anyone's fault, and the lawyers will cheerfully help you prove that, for a cut of the very lucrative settlement.

Unfortunately...no technology will ever be 100%...but the reliability factor improves with testing...and updated designs...

As tragic as this event was, I'm hoping it can at least help improve the predictive modeling aspects of autonomous systems (e.g., looking not just at where things are in a snapshot, but calculating probabilities of potential positional changes such as sudden jaywalking, kids running out between cars, etc.).

I've heard that the video from the car shows that there was no way to avoid the accident with the way the woman suddenly stepped into traffic 100 yards from a "well lit, managed crosswalk". They said that there wouldn't have been enough warning for a human driver to stop either. I mean, they WERE going just 38 MPH at the time.

I have heard that there was an accident somewhere that a humanoid was driving a car and hit someone else resulting in a death.