First self driving (reported) fatality

[Inertia]

You can't make an omlette without killing people.

Remind me never to come to your house for breakfast!

 

[mjr]

Remind me never to come to your house for breakfast!

"You're in terrible danger, girl!"

 

[Fab Foodie]

Of course autopilot cars will cause some fatalities especially whike the tech is new.
Tech learns, humans rarely do, furthermore the tech will spread faster than human learnings.
Considering the number of deaths caused by drivers already on the roads the chances that autonomous vehicles will soon be safer than human controlled are pretty excellent.

 

[confusedcyclist]

I'm sure you will be relieved to know that More thought, time and effort has gone into it than some imaginary geek in an afternoon.

That said, I think an uber smart car is the last self diving car iwould choose to be in

A lot of time and effort, and still someone had to die.

 

[jefmcg]

still someone had to die.

Everyone has to die.

 

[jefmcg]

I think I would rather take my chances on the road with fallible human drivers than put my life in the hands of a spotty Silicon Valley software geek with limited life experience and an unrealistic faith in the algorithms that he's been asked to code that afternoon.

That may be true in the UK, but I just did a teeny bit of research, and I think you might be safer in the hands of the spotty nerd in Arizona.

2016 pedestrian fatalities:

• UK, population 66 million, 448 or 7 per million people.
• Arizona, population 7 million, 193 or 28 per million people.

So, 4x as dangerous as walking in the UK, if you assume that Arizonians walk as far as Brits. I'm guessing not, because I assume that there is less reliance on public transport, and parking is likely to be closer to the destination. Also this. (edit) Also also this ... average 37? So for every day there is a max of 30, there's another of 44??

Maybe that's why Uber is testing in Arizona. They won't notice a few more dead pedestrians.

(for some reason, this reminds me of Fahrenheit 451)

 

[Foghat]

The last time I saw, self-driving cars had significant difficulty detecting, identifying, predicting the behaviour of, and negotiating safely, cyclists. That's before even taking into account the propensity for complex electronic equipment to malfunction.

Has this dire problem been comprehensively resolved, and if not, what the bollocks are they doing being allowed on roads in autonomous mode where cyclists and pedestrians are present?

 

[slowmotion]

It's early days, and the data isn't in with a significant sample yet ( wake up @srw). How many people have to die to prove the technology is safe?

Actually, how many fatalities are there per human driver car mile in Arizona, compared to deaths per car mile by clever clogs cars in Arizona?

 

[winjim]

Dashcam footage released. Distressing, obviously.

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-s...mpe-police-release-video-of-deadly-uber-crash

Opinion seems to be that the car was not at fault as it was obeying the law and the pedestrian was not using a crossing. Also that a human driver would not have been able to react in time.

So 'obeys the law' and 'is probably no less safe than a human driver' seems to be the incredibly low bar that's being set.

 

[slowmotion]

[QUOTE 5189466, member: 9609"]from this page https://cdan.nhtsa.gov/STSI.htm#

in 2015 - 155 pedestrian fatalities in 65 billion miles = 1 every 420 million miles

uber - 1 pedestrian in 2 million miles (don't think all these miles were in arizona?)

To early to call it, but its not a good start.[/QUOTE]
Teething problems.

 

[Foghat]

Er.......isn't that exactly the sort of scenario where the 'capabilities' of such cars are meant to render a collision avoidable?

She was just walking at normal walking speed across a lit road and neither the bloody driver nor the car with all its f*cking electronic wizardry bothered detecting her.

 

[winjim]

Er.......isn't that exactly the sort of scenario where the 'capabilities' of such cars are meant to render a collision avoidable?

She was just walking at normal walking speed across a lit road and neither the bloody driver nor the car with all its f*cking electronic wizardry bothered detecting her.

I wonder how they've told the car to interpret the rules of the road. If they've programmed it according to Arizona law then it won't be expecting to see a pedestrian outside a crossing, or will at least expect to have right of way over them.

I don't think the driver was paying any sort of real attention to the road.

 

[slowmotion]

Dashcam footage released. Distressing, obviously.

https://www.abc15.com/news/region-s...mpe-police-release-video-of-deadly-uber-crash

Opinion seems to be that the car was not at fault as it was obeying the law and the pedestrian was not using a crossing. Also that a human driver would not have been able to react in time.

So 'obeys the law' and 'is probably no less safe than a human driver' seems to be the incredibly low bar that's being set.

Isn't it a bit depressing that the clever clogs have probably built in an algorithm into their wretched cars that allows them to kill people as long as they can't be held legally responsible? There's probably the entire Highway Code and legal precedent working away in their software every inch you drive.

Badly.

 

[jarlrmai]

Opinion would be very different if a mum had lost control of a pram which had entered the roadway and been ignored by the self driving car's sensors and the inattentive chaperone. There is no functional difference between the 2 situations. We see now how well the jay walking propaganda has worked in the USA we now have victim blaming, it also helps the victim blaming mindset that the woman was homeless.

Here is the dash cam video, dash cams are way worse than human eyes at dealing with low light situations, it's clear from the interior that the 'driver' was not paying attention (looking at a phone?)

This self driving car is supposed to have LIDAR and other sensors if this is how it responds it would drive straight through people at a crossing.

(the video of the incident, it cuts at just before the impact but is still of course pretty hard to watch)

View: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pO9iRUx5wmM

 

[Fab Foodie]

A lot of time and effort, and still someone had to die.

Yes, like the development of the automobile that kills tens of thousands every year.... and we still have not learned anything since we removed the man with the flag.