Posted on 09/16/2020 7:22:00 AM PDT by yesthatjallen
The backup safety driver that was behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber vehicle that crashed in 2018, killing a pedestrian, has been charged.
Officials said on Tuesday that driver Rafaela Vasquez was charged with negligent homicide on August 27 over the crash in Tempe that killed 49-year-old Elain Herzberg, the Associated Press reports. It was the first pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving vehicle.
The charge comes in light of allegations that Vasquez was distracted moments before the self-driving Uber she was monitoring struck Herzberg who was crossing the road.
Vasquez told investigators that she didn’t use her phone before the accident. While you can’t see a phone in the video evidence that depicts the moments before the crash, it’s clear her eyes were not entirely on the road.
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) investigating the case found Vasquez failed to watch the road sufficiently as she watched TV on her phone, which resulted in the crash.
SNIP
(Excerpt) Read more at thenextweb.com ...
“Uber vehicle that crashed in 2018”
Only two years to come to that conclusion....wow!
I wonder why the vehicle manufacturer is not identified.
The car had the right of way. If not for the video of the driver that would have been the end of it.
Cuz you can’t arraign software
What a disaster! First they said they were “self-driving.” A lie. When a human driver is held responsible for what the algorithm does, it’s not a self driving car.
The ads and the hype all showed the person behind the wheel relaxing and not driving. They deliberately implied that the person behind the wheel didn’t have to do anything.
A lie.
There is no way I’ll ever use one of these danm things if I’m responsible for what the algorithm does.
When they do implement “self-driving” cars there will be a central computer which will have total control over your car, enabling the system to pull your car over for emergency vehicles (the justification) and if you aren’t wearing a mask, or have just strayed within 5.9 feet of another human. Or if you voted Republican. Ok. I made that one up, but I’m right about the others.
I believe the vehicle was a Volvo, but Uber had disabled the standard Volvo safety equipment and installed their own.
>>Cuz you can’t arraign software<<
Now that they are doing arraignments remotely maybe they are. ;)
It’s my understanding the car was in “Drive” and moving in the forward direction. As a backup driver, shouldn’t the human have only been charged if the car was backing up?
Post #10 may give a clue why “she” wasn’t charged until now.
That’s a dude!
May be interesting to see where this goes.
As I recall:
This was a vehicle testing situation.
Vasquez was being paid to be safety backup and should have been paying attention. Just like everyone else driving on the road. Though I don’t believe there was a “texting” law in place at the time.
Herzberg was pushing her bike from between bushes, nowhere near a marked or implied crosswalk.
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