Following the recent case of a self-driving Uber hitting a woman on a bicycle, resulting in her death, a preliminary investigation by Tempe police has revealed that the Uber is not at fault in the incident.
“The [backup] driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them. His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision,” said Sylvia Moir, police chief in Tempe, Arizona, in a report by the San Francisco Chronicle. During the incident, the autonomous Volvo XC90 was moving at 61 km/h (38 mph) in a 56 km/h (35 mph) zone.
According to Tempe police, the vehicle’s systems and backup driver made no attempt to slow down prior to hitting 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. Based on video evidence taken from the vehicle’s onboard cameras, Moir said, “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.”
She added that the incident took place within 100 yards of a crosswalk, and noted, “it is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available.”
“I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident. I won’t rule out the potential to file charges against the (backup driver) in the Uber vehicle,” Moir said, adding did it was “new ground to venture” should the self-driving car be found at fault.
For now, Tempe police will collaborate with investigators from the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration in probing the accident. Uber, which is conducting autonomous vehicle tests in Arizona, Pittsburgh, Toronto and other areas, has already stopped testing the vehicles throughout North America.
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Nobody or machine can replace your God given eyes and hands. Self driving will never happen.
Especially in Malaysia where people just suddenly change lanes and make illegal turns….you think machine can avoid all this?
If everyone was a machine, then it won’t happen duh.
It is only a matter of time.
In any case, a machine programmed will not be pissed off when a car cuts queue in front of you, a machine will not tailgate you purposely. I can give a million examples.
A machine is not perfect but is constantly improving. Just as you are using a smartphone today.
A machine is not perfect, but neither are you.
In Bolehland it will really never happen, our road mark is so unclear and in many case, unpredictable, for example the old line can still be there while a new line at diff position has been mark.
No matter how fast human reflexes are, machines will always be faster in response time.
This is just the basics of automation.
At least video evidence laku in US. Here, you give car cam video evidence, polis say no time to watch. Nak cepat tutup kes
Video evidence have been used to catch lawbreakers. Even up to JPJ director level din escape lah. Dun fitnah here.
#StopTheLies
Not uber fault la…when u driven kalau orong masuk jalan u tiba2 u bole henti ka ah? U memang langar dia…
Salah u ke dia…sikit2 dah takut…tada bola la ke ..
Questions:
1.What would be the chances of it happening if the bot was driving within 35mp/h instead of 38mph/h?
2.Is this incident “Unavoidable” simply because the victim is a homeless woman? Would the situation be different if it’s a normal person?
3.Does bot car have no infrared sight to detect objects within shadows?
In malaysia it will be worst…lots of those lajak little buggers
Machine especially robots should be designed to minimize human nature of error… And in this case it has not! Hoping the authorities will take this incident into consideration to have minimum set of parameters before a deployment being given the greenlight.