Posted on 03/21/2018 12:48:17 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
When a driverless car kills someone, who’s to blame?
That’s no longer a hypothetical question. A self-driving car operated by Uber struck and killed a woman on a street in Tempe, Arizona, on Sunday night, likely marking a grim milestone for the nascent technology: the first pedestrian killed by such a car on public roads.
Police say the 49-year-old woman was walking a bike across the street, outside the crosswalk, at around 10 p.m. The Uber was traveling at 40 miles per hour in autonomous mode, with an operator in the driver’s seat, when she was hit. Police have not yet determined who was at fault. (The car apparently didn’t slow down, and the operator didn’t appear impaired.) Nonetheless, Uber immediately suspended its self-driving tests in Arizona and nationwide, as many in the tech industry reacted with alarm.
There’s an ongoing debate about legal liability when it comes to collisions in which an autonomous vehicle harms someone else through no fault of that person. Would the blame lie with the self-driving car’s owner, manufacturer, a combination of the two, or someone else? In their quest to become the Mecca of self-driving cars, Arizona regulators have largely left those questions unanswered, The New York Times reported last year:
(Excerpt) Read more at newrepublic.com ...
“Driving a cab 72 hours a week for years and no accident since I was 24, now 50, i am VERY confient i am a better driver than these “self driving” cars.”
Almost all professional drivers would be in that category and most non-professional drivers as well. I’ve driven hundreds of thousands of miles with only very minimal bumps, all due to extreme weather conditions.
Apparently you didn’t make it through my post. Tsk Tsk.
“I was always told, “one insures the car, not the driver.””
well, you were told wrong. Liability insurance (the most important kind) attaches to the driver; only comprehensive and collision insurance attaches to the vehicle.
https://www.claimsjournal.com/news/national/2014/06/05/249762.htm
Being in a bike lane sandwiched between northbound vehicular traffic; and, a vehicular traffic right-turn lane does not make a biker a pedestrian. Consider that the area of the accident was lighted with overhead street lamps. The car system has a prior known issue with acknowledging a bike lane or any occupants of a bike lane.
The vehicle system LIDAR sensor likely painted the person & bicycle combination near the car's path before the collision, but the software failed to properly determine what was being seen. Unless it can accurately categorize confusing sensor data, it apparently does not default to "brakes" to slow down, or com to a halt. It just merrily chugged along--and upon hitting an obstruction, required the human driver to override the A.I. and stop the vehicle. It never noted the impact as significant--just as some drunk drivers with a pedestrian lodged in the windshield continue about their travels.
I don't think situational awareness can be programmed. I can anticipate a lane change long before it happens (they start creeping towards the lane), can a program do that? Can a program anticipate a pedestrian or a bike ending up in front of your car unexpectedly? Apparently not.
An important fact we have not seen until now.
It was at night, well after sunset.
“Police say the 49-year-old woman was walking a bike across the street, outside the crosswalk, at around 10 p.m.”
Changes quite a bit, doesn’t it.
Also, in the pictures I have seen, the damage to the car is on the extreme right front.
So, it appears the woman was just barely in front of the right edge of he car when she was hit.
Now I want to know if she was impaired.
There was one report that she was homeless.
Very few women are homeless.
Almost all homeless have mental, drug, or alcohol problems, or combinations thereof.
It will all come out.
Yep. A chain reaction of lawsuits which would ultimately be reflected in the prices of the self driving cars. I think the whole concept of self driving cars will be a bloody mess. But the young generation types will probably love it and probably rent them rather than buy them. Just like they “rent” iphones by paying per mth. The American dream with a house, backyard and car you can drive yourself will float away.
They also said the vehicle was going 38 mph in a 35 mph zone.
According to Google Maps street view and Bing street view images, the speed limit along that stretch is 45 MPH, not 35. I found the exact location yesterday, and backed up down the road until I saw a speed limit sign.
Good reporting on your part. They type of investigation that freerepublic is so famous for.
The creators of the software are going to move mountains, hire the best lawyers, and scream to high heaven so as not to be held responsible. Same with the manufacturer of the car. It will fall on the owner and “non-driver” of the car.
Just or not, that’s what will happen.
It is possible to completely forge a video with soundtrack of a person or an incident, that can pass as authentic.
Outside access to a personal electronic device also enables synthesis of incriminating evidence within the file systems, waiting to be discovered.
Parallel process investigation: intelligence services feed inadmissible evidence to legit law enforcement to initiate a criminal investigation. Sometimes they embroider findings to co-join disparate facts in painting a believable narrative for a jury.
And this is a problem. Made worse by a felon behind the wheel. I looked at the visual area, someone had a link to the location. There is a walkway in the median that she likely used. There is lighting. And nothing to obstruct the view. I figure the ‘coming out of shadows’ was not her, it was the fact that the headlights fell upon her. The did not slow, did not brake. The human was oblivious, not paying attention.
Operator of self-driving Uber vehicle that killed pedestrian was felon
Sounds like Uber hired a trans female (born Rafael) with felony convictions as a safety driver! Unbelievable if true.
Yep, blame the poor little lady, all her fault. Shirley could be the fall of the rich kids that want to experiment with their computerized toys on the road, no, couldn’t be that. Nope, let’s blame the little old lady with all of her problems, those problems just completely overcome the intelligence of that computer and it’s patsy felon driver. /s
Many states and localities competed for testing after California began placing restrictions on the testing of self driving cars in public venues. Money is involved which always alters the playing field. Police answer to city hall.
Am I the only one that didn’t realize that the self-driving cars all have a human “driver” in them?
Assume circumstances were such that an impact couldn’t be avoided. Why weren’t the brakes applied before, during, or after impact by the car’s control system?
This case provides the most compelling argument for “No Fault” insurance.
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They have immense experience as passengers in these...
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