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.”
You’re trying to change the subject, because you were wrong on two counts of specific incidents.
Like I said you have a batting average of zero, and you’re looking more like fool with every post.
GEE, I didn’t know we had easily triggered ANTIFA types on FR.
So everyone MUST remain behind the self-appointed speed patrol/left lane campers? You know, those folks who put their car in the passing lane and then drive at or below (often WELL below) the posted speed limit, causing all kinds of mayhem and problems behind them.
When on 2 wheels, my credo is “I am mostly invisible, but those who CAN see me are AIMING FOR ME!”
It’s worked so far...
He got the ticket for an illegal pass. And the car will have the footage to show how far into the lane change the vehicle went before it aborted. He’ll have to show that a person driven car wouldn’t have also failed to see him and avoided the accident. He’ll probably lose.
No, a robot vehicle aborted a lane change and failed to notice a lane splitting motorcyclist that had taken up the space the car hadn’t fully left. Happens to human drivers all the time. The big question will be why the car aborted the lane change, did it “see” trouble in the other lane? Could the motorcyclist have also seen that trouble and realized the lane change would be aborted so he shouldn’t try to pass? Biggest factor in this is that the motorcyclist got the ticket, so responding officers apparently felt he screwed up.
It’s still safer for a truck to stay in the center lanes even if there are miles between ramps.
When I was still driving I stuck to the center lanes whenever possible. It gives the cars more room to jockey for position.
You want to see potential mayhem try Chicago or other places where trucks are restricted to the right lanes.
It’s a wonder more people aren’t killed in crashes with trucks in those places.
I know there are many more close calls.
Good one! I actually had the “I’m invisible” thing save me twice in the same day. It was a potentially bad day. :)
I actually agree with that, regarding trucks just staying in their lane. I see where you are coming from.
I will no longer pass on the right just to prove a point, if there is room on the left.
I have been “woke”. :-D
I always tried to make eye contact with the car driver when riding. I have only had one incident where the lady was a the stop sign, looked right at me and pulled out. I hit my brakes and we avoided an accident, but I swear the other drivers all saw what she did and were honking at her and some even flipped her off.
:-)
Robot violated the law.
Robot does not look into mirrors.
Damning for the Robot.
I believe now we can just drive without mirrors.
A new precedence is set by robots called careless driving but damn the pedestrians and motorcycles.
You technically illiterate folks must now defend carelessness ...
LMAO
Robot didn’t violate the law. Motorcyclist passed on the right. Motorcyclist broke the law. Motorcyclist got the ticket.
Before labeling somebody else technically illiterate you really need to advance yourself beyond just plain illiterate.
Yes, wonder what happens to motorcycles? When I finished my undergrad in California back in the 80s I left my bike in California because I realized I was lanesplitting at high speed and realized such a California habit would get me quickly killed any where else in the country.
As I mentioned, lane splitting is killing young men here in the Bay Area today. These are often low-speed collisions, too — 10 to 20 mph. You clip a corner of a vehicle at a 5 to 10 mph speed difference, down you go, and the other cars crush you.
We finally got our son off his bike. It got tapped in a parking spot, fell over, punctured the crankcase, and ran out of oil! Thank God for miracles. He is entering the fire fighter profession and every fire fighter he has met and worked with told him they would not ride a bike here — too dangerous. And that’s from the guys who enter burning buildings to save people!
I don’t need to see that video to see what’s in it; and if anything, online video has exacerbated that problem by monetizing it! And yea, I think I’m relatively ‘sane’ out there, partially because I’m not 16, partially because 95% of my riding is through rush hour traffic, and partially because I’m a racing fan and know that there’s a good place to push to 10/10ths (ya know, where there’s no bus or tree or pothole or left-turners into traffic.) I don’t think I would’ve fared well if I’d started riding @ 16 in CA with mountain roads calling my name.
To invert the response, I don’t wear an action cam, but I think you’d be equally appalled at the actions people take while driving. In fact that’s one of the things fans of self-drive cars cite, although the incident at the root of this article has the human driver attempting a preventative action.
Only those who pass on the right when they have the option to pass on the left should be put to death. From what I see that would be about 90%. Those who pass on the right doing at least 30mph over the limit should be tortured first.
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