Tempe police have released footage from the onboard cameras on the self-driving Uber which was involved in a fatal self-driving car crash in Arizona recently. The video casts a different light on the incident, and has raised new questions about why the autonomous car failed to stop in time.
“While we recognize two media outlets have attributed exclusive interviews with the [police] chief, we respectfully disagree with how their claim of interviews have been characterised,” said Sgt. Ronald Elcock, a spokesman for Tempe police, in a statement.
In the video, the self-driving XC90 is shown driving on what looks like a dimly-lit road. Around the 3-second mark, we see the shoes of the victim, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, and a second after that is when the collision took place. According to reports, the vehicle was moving at 61 km/h (38 mph) in a 56 km/h (35 mph) zone.
Switching over the interior camera, we see backup driver 44-year-old Rafael Vasquez glancing down often for about 10 seconds leading up to the crash. Sylvia Moir, police chief in Tempe, Arizona, previously said, “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.”
“The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue to be with Elaine’s loved ones. Our cars remain grounded, and we’re assisting local, state and federal authorities in any way we can,” said an Uber spokeswoman in a statement. Uber has already stopped testing its autonomous vehicles throughout North America.
Tempe police will continue working with the National Transportation Safety Board and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on the matter. A case will then be submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office once the investigation is finished to decide if charges will be filed.
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That kinda road, going at that kinda speed, that looked too fast.
No AEB can help stop in time, and really, there’s barely any time to react.
VolvoCar Auto Brake has radar that can detect objects in the dark.
So means it is not function as advertise
Either not function or disabled. Something going on with Uber there.
I think the radar works just fine. Remember the safety algorithm must have sense there is human being at the road side but the system wouldnt brake just because it sense a pedestrian on the road side because any sane human being wouldnt cross a road where it is clearly a car coming close. Otherwise the autonomous car would have performs emergency brake everytime it sense pedestrian on the road side…try that on a busy street like time square, that volvo would have brake hundreds of times
“According to reports, the vehicle was moving at 61 km/h (38 mph) in a 56 km/h (35 mph) zone.”
The car was going 3 MPH faster than the limit. People commonly drive much faster than that. This could have easily happened with a real person in control too. It looks like she wasn’t being safe with her positioning and shouldn’t have crossed if a car was coming. Its just a tragic situation all around.
Wide open road. Even just AEB wud have stop this if the system was working. Unlike fake ASA, VolvoCar Auto Brake works until 80kmph. Someone dah masuk poket Uber wei.
Deswai pipu orso slam into toll plaza. Lesen kopi O? Someone dah masuk poket JPJ wei. Ohwai
Car that slammed into toll plaza ada AEB ke ahbeng?
The woman was seen at 3, collision at 4. Even if the driver noticed her in time, it’ll be too late already. I guess it’s the case of the place being too poorly lit, like that motosikal nyamuk case in Johor.
Radar in front nor 360′ laser on top no need light to “see”….. some thing is wrong with the system…
Im not here to blame anyone but both pedestrian and drivers should be aware of the dangers in driving/walking in the dark. Cars have light, but they will not illuminate every corner of the view if in complete darkness. And pedestrians/cyclist has a better view of these brightly lit headlamps coming their way. Ive seen alot here especially in Putrajaya where cyclists and joggers seem to ignore most cars thinking they have the right of way just because the light is red for cars. When you see a speeding car coming (maybe the driver did not notice the red lights, or is in an emergency, dont you, the cyclists/joggers risk thinking you have the right of way) in the end, this is between man and machine.. and this machine is over thousands of kilograms driving over 60km/h.. go figure the results.
Crossing the road, perhaps you’re right. But going on the same way as the car, then it’s the driver of the car’s responsibility to notice the pedesterian/cyclist as they would be looking to the front and backing the on coming vehicle.
Right of way first, then common sense. never let go the common sense.
totally agree with arnold.. Right or wrong, if you’re a pedestrian, no point being right when you’re Dead!
Totally agree with you although I am a cyclist and also job some times. Can’t brain how stupid are those ignorant cyclists and joggers are when they think they are always right. Every car, bike, red head lorry and 28 wheeler must give way to them. I pity their family when I see cyclists and joggers like this…high chance to lost their love ones…sighhh…think twice cyclists and joggers…rally_fan is spot on…no point being right when you’re Dead!
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People think technology can replace human being. Well, for cars, it will never happen
Human is human. No AI can replace a human.
And even human will hit that lady in that poor visiblity
Omg
it so freaking dark, even a human operated car would hv caused the crash…
Some people use/cross road like nobody’s business, when fatal happened, need to blame who?
In Malaysia, we still a lot of Mat Rempits (motorcycle/bicycle version) doing “Superman” stunts in main roads and highways.
Watch Out!
if driven by human it wouldn’t happen in the first place bcoz driven with much higher than the speed limit of 56 km/h, the car already passes by long before the bicycle crosses the street…
For human we need to see in order to act, in this case, to slam on the brakes and I think it is still too late as the lady suddenly appear from the dark, however for an autonomous car aren’t they suppose to have a radar sensor system which means it could detect even in the dark?
Even if you were driving it manually, chances arenyou would still hit the victim due to how dark the road was. RIP to the victim.
Wear dark shirt, no lights on bike, came out of no where, I wonder will it make any difference if it was not self-driving..
if human is driving, one can at least have 1 to 2 second to apply brake force based on the video, maybe can’t prevent the collision, but at least reduce impact, and the backup driver is not focus on the road, uber is in fault and must be penalized heavy.
Sorry for the victim, but doesn’t look like she noticed the car coming and it was dark (on camera). Looks like even a human driver would not be able to react to it cos it was totally dark even with lights on. However, if the front self driving system had night vision (not sure if it had this), the car might have noticed a human trying to cross the road – but with too little time to react. Or maybe, just maybe, James Cameron was on to something all those years ago.
Did the car make sufficient notice to alert pedestrian that it is coming?
Did the car make sufficient noice/sound to alert pedestrian that it is coming? Or it is Silence Death on wheels?
just my thought, when automate car crash,the world go hoo haa… big news flash out. but when human crash, all just quit and say is normal. i know this involve human live, but put u at that situation, i don’t think any human can react fast specially that dark.
Bright or dark, all proper autonomous vehicle will be equipped with ultrasonic (near range), image, radar (long range) and lidar sensors. The fact that none of this sensors picked up the cyclist is totally baffling… goes to show Uber doesn’t have the proper experts and just jumping onto the autonomous bandwagon.
Volvo AEB has radar function that picks up cross pedestrian traffic but seems to be not working or disabled by Uber. Something must be wrong there.
It’s the first phase of SkyNet attacking the human race. Run and hide people…
My thoughts too.
Could Uber’s system override Volvo’s AEB system? Sounds possible, as Uber would want their autopilot system to override the car’s system to have better control of the drive.
Supposedly this car equipped with latest sensor such as radar/ ultrasonic. With this kind of sensor it doesnt matter whether it is dark or not. It should detect the movement of this lady. Something must went wrong
Crossing the road like a bolehlander, how to stop?
the rules when driving or riding are :
1) eyes on the road forward
2) turn on high beam when you driving in dark road and no oncoming vehicles and no vehicles in front you.
those incident above can be avoided if the standby driver in the above car did the 2 of items listed.
We should not immediately point fingers at the automated system.. but it might be the fault of the cyclist. Does it mean we can crossthe road without looking out for cars? Here in Malaysia cyclists and pedestrians expect to be given the right of way.. no different from those basikal nyamuk
In Western civilised countries, cars supposed to gip way to pedestrians & cyclists.
They suppose to include an infrared camera that could detect moving object in a complete dark. I think Honda pioneered that in their Legend.
if statistic shows autonomous car cause less accident than self-drive. Would you wait until autonomous car is perfect or allow it now?
The car is a robot, it’s supposed to be many times superior to even the best human driver. With sensor, even with extremely dim light it should be able to “know” a person is so close.
Secondly, it should horn once a person is detected. The horn would be able to make her know a danger so she would have backed off to avoid the accident.
Third, the car should also have swerved and braked to avoid the accident.
Distance measuring sensors and/or braking systems failure?
…or did the driver deactivate the autonomous drive?
what if…..instead of banging a cyclist, the self driving uber car banged a concrete pillar?
Basher will says ini salahan concrete pillar. If the pillar wasnt there, they wud not have ram it.
Reported should have about 6 ladar but this Volve only use one… to save cost I’m sure!