...The report found that Vasquez “was distracted and looking down” for close to seven of the nearly 22 minutes prior to the collision.
... Vasquez told federal investigators she had been monitoring the self-driving interface in the car and that neither her personal nor business phones were in use until after the crash.
That report showed Uber had disabled the emergency braking system in the Volvo, and Vasquez began braking less than a second after hitting Herzberg.
Herzberg, who was homeless, was walking her bicycle across the street, outside a crossing on a four-lane road, on the night of 18 March when she was struck by the front right side of the Volvo.
The police report faulted Herzberg for “unlawfully crossing the road at a location other than a marked crosswalk”.
The driver makes the car stop.
Only if they are paying attention.
Wonder if the deceased has any relatives that will cash in on her death?
There are so many levels of stupidity in this article it should get a Darwin award for literature!
So you’re supposed to continue driving the car while it is driving itself?
Then what’s the point?
1. Change the laws as needed so the back-up driver is as liable as if he/she was driving the car if it can be proven they were not paying attention like this.
2. Audit phones on a daily basis. Zero Tolerance.
I love technology, and think it has a place in modern transportation systems of all kinds.
But not as the principle operator. I don’t have any faith in self-driving automobiles, especially when they’re mixed in with unpredictable human drivers.
Your mileage may vary...
It’s the same story every time new safety technology is introduced. Accidents went down for a while when anti-lock brakes became common. Then after a year or so people let their guard down, maybe dicked around with the radio a little longer, maybe drove a little faster, because they started to assume that the anti-lock brakes would save them from themselves.
Now we’re all part of a nationwide beta test of self-driving cars.
I’m supposed to care about someone walking in front of a car at night, no crosswalk?
I want more self driving cars, fewer idiots. I’d be happy if we passed statutes relieving the drivers and manufacturers of any criminal or civil liability for injuries to anyone NOT obeying the law.
Darwin bats last.
“Vasquez looked up just 0.5 seconds before the crash, after keeping her head down for 5.3 seconds, the police report said.”
Is there a videocam on the driver in that Uber self-driving car ?
Why did this take so long to come out?! That adds to the need to charge the company and driver with murder.
They are not self driving. The driver has to be ready to control the car. That’s not self driving.
What’s the sense?
Self-driving cars are going to become a reality.
But accidents will still happen, as they do for 100% of other technologies.
A person walking their bike across a 4 lane road in front of a car is THEIR FAULT. It looks like suicide, actually.
And automatic car will eventually be BETTER then a person, but we are not there yet. That takes years of engineering and testing.
This week my wife and I saw a rectum driving a car with a dog in her lap while using a cell phone.
We guessed that she was steering with her left hand on the lower part of the steering wheel or her dog was steering, as her phone was in her right hand.
If it was her dog, it was not doing a very good job.
My wife said that the dog was probably the driver’s service dog as she was on the way to the local grocery store.
Is that something like a "safety pilot"?