Replies

The vehicle's headlights were on low beam setting. In the time between when the woman's sneakers first appear out of the dark, and the collision, a human driver would not have had time to stop the vehicle, either.

Having said that, I thought the autonomous vehicles had ultrasonic or RADAR collision sensing -- not dependent on optical lighting...

visible-light-optics dependent, then, the headlights definitely should have been on high beam.

“The vehicle's headlights were on low beam setting. In the time between when the woman's sneakers first appear out of the dark, and the collision, a human driver would not have had time to stop the vehicle, either.
Having said that, I thought the autonomous vehicles had ultrasonic or RADAR collision sensing — not dependent on optical lighting...

visible-light-optics dependent, then, the headlights definitely should have been on high beam.”
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The latest car I bought for my family has automatic headlights that autonomously switch between low beam and high beam automatically. And they do so quickly at appropriate times — far better than would be done manually. Adding in its other safety features (automatic breaking, lane monitoring, proximity warnings, etc.) it’s the safest car I’ve ever owned. The Uber should have Incorporated that capability.

There’s not a reason in the world why this woman, who clearly was on a collision course with the Uber, should have been hit or, at worst, only hit after the Uber braked automatically.

These autonomous driving vehicles need to add infrared sensing and supporting software to their other situational detection hardware and software.