Posted on 01/23/2018 10:42:53 PM PST by Impala64ssa
Oscar Nilsson filed a lawsuit against General Motors Monday concerning a collision between Nilsson on his motorcycle and a Chevy Bolt involved in GM’s Cruise self-driving test program in San Francisco.
The crash occurred on December 7, where Nilsson claims a Chevy Bolt involved in GM’s self-driving testing program swerved into his lane, knocking him off of his motorcycle and injuring him, via The Mercury News:
Nilsson claims in the suit that he was riding behind one of GM’s autonomous Bolts on Dec. 7 on Oak Street, when the car, with backup driver, changed lanes to the left. When he rode forward, the Bolt suddenly veered back into his lane and knocked him to the ground, according to the lawsuit, filed Monday in U.S. District Court in San Francisco.
The San Francisco Police Department determined Nilsson to be at fault for the collision because he was attempting to pass on the right. The police report also claimed that the Bolt aborted its lane change, and that the GM employee behind the wheel of the vehicle attempted to steer away from the motorcyclist but was too late to avoid contact.
GM acknowledged the aborted lane change in its crash report to the California DMV, but did not admit fault. From The Mercury News:
The company acknowledged that the car, in autonomous-driving mode in heavy traffic, had aborted a lane change. But GM said that as its car was “re-centering itself” in the lane, Nilsson, who had been riding between two lanes in a legal-in-California practice known as lane-splitting, “moved into the center lane, glanced the side of the Cruise … wobbled, and fell over.”
The crash report also indicated that the Bolt was traveling at 12 mph and Nilsson was traveling at 17 mph. It’s not clear which version of the self-driving test setup the Chevy Bolt involved in the crash was equipped with.
Nilsson reported having to go on disability leave for shoulder and neck injuries which will require lengthy treatment, and he is seeking unspecified damages.
The lawsuit comes just shortly after GM announced the next iteration of its self-driving vehicles, which were teased to not include pedals or a steering wheel. As we’ve previously reported, the Cruise self-driving test program was involved in 22 of 27 total reported accidents involving self-driving vehicles in California last year, all of which were blamed on human error. GM claims it’s “confident” it will deploy fully autonomous cars by 2019.
As more companies dive into developing proprietary self-driving technologies and deploy test vehicles on public roads, expect to see many more incidents and lawsuits involving human injuries and dented test cars.
Jalopnik reached out to Nilsson’s attorney and GM and will update when more information is available.
Update Jan 23 9:15 p.m.: GM responded to Jalopnik’s request for comment:
“Safety is our primary focus when it comes to developing and testing our self-driving technology. In this matter, the SFPD collision report determined that the motorcyclist merged into our lane before it was safe to do so.”
Unlike people, they don’t get drunk and they don’t text while driving. I had to stop bicycle commuting because texting drivers make it too dangerous.
I used to motorcycle commute. What’s save my butt on many occasions was this simple rule: assume you are invisible. It let you drive anyway you want, knowing you’re responsible for whether or not you get hit. I never did. Get hit.
This is precisely the story of RINO Jim Ryan framing Rolando Cruz and Richard M Daley framing the Ford Heights Four. In both cases, the politician thought the voters demanded law n order more than justice and pandered to the voters to posture for future elections.
The kneejerk reaction was to ban capital punishment rather than to punish mis-behaving lawyers.
Not a fan of driver-less cars and love bikes and many of those who ride them, but reality is what reality is.
Wait until a robot 18-wheeler takes out a school bus.
In Germany, slower traffic keeps right.
When I’m driving on a multilane road and there’s an open lane to the left and right of a slower moving vehicle, the Libertarian going 30 mph over the limit will pass on the right 9 times out of 10. I think they figure the cops are less likely to notice if they pass on the right.
...the Libertarian going 30 mph over the limit will pass on the right 9 times out of 10. I think they figure the cops are less likely to notice if they pass on the right.
I’m seriously thinking of spending the $15 for that mirror image message for the top of my windshield that says “Slower traffic move right”.
So they really aren’t taking two lanes, but you’re trying to enforce a law that doesn’t exist by doing something that’s not safe.
Pinging this group because they offered insights relative to those blaming bikers generally (I’m just assuming that, like all news articles, we’re getting a biased fraction of the story).
I’ve long suspected that in a dilemma, autonomous cars will be programmed to kill motorcyclists because lib programmers, social norms, or both, will declare the biker (pick one or several):
- An ‘idiot’ on a ‘crotch rocket’
- Knowing the risk he took
- “I knew a...” (whatever anecdotal scary thing happened)
- By being on a ‘donor’cycle, inherently less important than anything else the car might hit.
See https://www.technologyreview.com/s/542626/why-self-driving-cars-must-be-programmed-to-kill/ for how this will play out; when it’s not just a crash but a fatality, the larger part of people will all but cheer.
For the record: I do ride when the white slippery stuff isn’t covering the road; am clearly recognizable as a can of (popular lemon-lime carbonated beverage) by bright green bike, hi-viz helmet, and 3M reflective stripes; and ride sanely — and still have drivers, often with one or both hands full of food/smokes/phones/whatever, commit attempted murder against me several times weekly.
Lane splitting may be legal in CA but only a moron would do it. It is stupidity on wheels.
So they really aren’t taking two lanes, but you’re trying to enforce a law that doesn’t exist by doing something that’s not safe.
What I’m doing is obeying the law in a way that truck drivers don’t like. It’s a psychology thing. If a truck driver hates getting passed on the right, and keeps getting passed on the right, he subconsciously will start trying to stay in the right lane if it is empty and there is not an on-ramp.
I’ve had truck drivers pull into my lane FAST at the last second. I do a lot of long distance freeway driving and have methodologies I use to prevent getting stuck behind a truck slowly passing another truck. I’ve had to pass on the shoulder 7 or 8 times in my life. I’ve got dash cam footage of cars getting cut off by trucks and literally pushed into the left shoulder, as well as ones that result in minor road rage.
Bottom line is I see drivers as drivers, regardless of what they drive. There are good and bad drivers, be they operating a car, a truck or a motorcycle. I avoid the bad ones and drive extremely assertively to the point that it occasionally becomes aggressive. But only occasionally.
One fun thing is that during bad show and salt days I leave the sports car at home and drive a first generation Scion xB that I nailed a deer with about three years ago. I’ve got one good headlight and an LED light setup on the other side. People noticeably don’t like me being behind them because the damage suggests that I rear-end people. It’s almost like driving a cop car. People get out of your way even more than with a sports car.
“.... that’s pretty normal since it’s a six-lane freeway”
On a six lane highway the far right TWO lanes are the most dangerous places for a truck to be.
Think a minute.
99% of traffic entering or exiting the highway does so in the far right lane. There are the occasional left lane exits but they are the exception, not the rule.
By staying in the center lanes truckers are actually increasing your chances of a safe commute by taking themselves out of the path of accelerating and slowing traffic that intermingles at entry/exit points.
I know this due to seventeen years of otr trucking.
Believe me, worse accidents occur when large vehicles with little maneuverability are limited to right lanes.
Get over your pet peeve and see the whole picture.
By staying in the center lanes truckers are actually increasing your chances of a safe commute by taking themselves out of the path of accelerating and slowing traffic that intermingles at entry/exit points.
I expect them to move over (to the center lane) when approaching an on-ramp.
BTW they are not allowed in the far left lane, at all. I see a lot of them pulled over by the state police a short distance after the rule begins, just south of Louisville, southbound. Roughly one every other day on my commute.
Doesn’t matter if I read the article. Deep Pockets will be sued. There is a Tesla on autopilot crash into a firetruck this morning, same idea.
This is the “pro” lane-splitting argument from an American motorcyclists organization:
”Reducing a motorcyclist’s exposure to vehicles that are frequently accelerating and decelerating on congested roadways can be one way to reduce rear-end collisions for those most vulnerable in traffic.”
Are not other cars “exposed to vehicles that are frequently accelerating and decelerating on congested roadways??
Is not the “pro” argument actually an admission that the motorcyclist has a harder time making quick adjustments in congested traffic (braking at slow speeds, keeping balance, or dropping foot to secure the motorcycle is held upright). Whereas a car driver has zero “adjustment” to make to the upright balance of the motor vehicle just because it must slow down a lot, or even stop.
What the “pro” lane-slitting argument fails to acknowledge is that while lane-splitting may make it seem an easier driving experience for the motorcyclists in congested stop-and-go traffic, there is two things wrong with it. It is less likely that the motorcyclist will be bumped from behind in such situations, than the motorcycle will bump the vehicle ahead. Also, lane-splitting exposes the motorcyclists to accidents from car drivers quickly changing lanes, cutting off that “between the lanes” space the motorcyclist is using.
Full disclosure: I love motorcycles and use to have two - a “dirt bike” and a road bike. I hope again sometime to have another road bike. My own experience riding motorcycles has left the impression that a very good many motorcyclists are their own worst enemy, more so than the car drivers.
Not only does California allow “lane splitting” they do not require a rule I learned road biking with (as the best safety measure on highways) That rule was that the motorcycle should be sitting in the lane in the same relative position as it would be if the operator was behind the wheel of a car. That rule decreases observational mistakes, relative to the motorcycle, by the car drivers.
There is a Tesla on autopilot crash into a firetruck this morning, same idea.
...
The driver of that car was cited for drunk driving.
Your batting average is zero.
Sounds like you are one of those extremely few safe and sane motorcycle drivers.
The reality is that this is what I see out on the road all the time both on the highway and on city streets.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NVbiR_fQ38s
Are you dense? I’m not talking about these accidents, it is when an autonomous car INEVITABLY hits a schoolbus. Deep Pockets will pay big time.
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