First Driverless Car Death

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networkn

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#231924 20-Mar-2018 16:40

http://www.bbc.com/news/business-43459156

It was inevitable.

Of course, there will be plenty of commentaries that humans kill people in cars as well.

The difference is, people can be held accountable.

Uber has suspended it's driverless operations whilst it investigates, a logical and smart thing to do.

Interestingly, there was a human monitor in the car. The person killed was not on a ped crossing.

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#1980591 20-Mar-2018 16:43

So it was the pedestrians fault?

Lazy is such an ugly word, I prefer to call it selective participation

mclean

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#1980618 20-Mar-2018 17:39

networkn: The difference is, people can be held accountable.

Absolutely people will be held accountable when driverless cars crash. In a situation like this the software will be smart enough to identify several possibilities - maybe steer for a possible safe gap, a child, an animal, or simply carry on and hit the obstruction ahead. The manufacturer's software will make these life-or-death decisions, the logic will be clearly evident, and the manufacturer will be culpable.

bmt

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#1980623 20-Mar-2018 17:48

One single death after how many miles of driverless operation? As compared to human driving?

I'd replace every single car with driverless ones tomorrow if the technology was there. The downside is that the resultant reduced death rate would actually be bad for the planet but that's an existential crisis for society really..

DarthKermit

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#1980630 20-Mar-2018 18:15

I think I'll stick with Johnny Cabs:

networkn

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#1980631 20-Mar-2018 18:19

mclean:

networkn: The difference is, people can be held accountable.

Absolutely people will be held accountable when driverless cars crash. In a situation like this the software will be smart enough to identify several possibilities - maybe steer for a possible safe gap, a child, an animal, or simply carry on and hit the obstruction ahead. The manufacturer's software will make these life-or-death decisions, the logic will be clearly evident, and the manufacturer will be culpable.

I wonder what the punishment will be for this particular infringement then?

networkn

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#1980639 20-Mar-2018 18:31

bmt:

One single death after how many miles of driverless operation? As compared to human driving?

I'd replace every single car with driverless ones tomorrow if the technology was there. The downside is that the resultant reduced death rate would actually be bad for the planet but that's an existential crisis for society really..

Heh, of course you would.

The problem is, the technology isn't there. But, they are still on the roads!

gzt

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#1980670 20-Mar-2018 19:12

Writeup from Fortune says inevitable:

Fortune: According to the Chronicle, the preliminary investigation found the Uber car was driving at 38 mph in a 35 mph zone and did not attempt to brake. Herzberg is said to have abruptly walked from a center median into a lane with traffic. Police believe she may have been homeless.

It's hard to know. Humans are likely to be much better at understanding the situation as it develops and minimising damage. As in holy ------ it looks like that crazy person is going to.. Center median seems kind of obvious.

Edit: autonomous car exceeding speed limit? There's a story there as well.

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vexxxboy

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#1980706 20-Mar-2018 20:51

bmt:

One single death after how many miles of driverless operation? As compared to human driving?

I'd replace every single car with driverless ones tomorrow if the technology was there. The downside is that the resultant reduced death rate would actually be bad for the planet but that's an existential crisis for society really..

the problem with testing in the USA is that reporting is voluntary, so how many incidents have not been reported if they show driverless cars are not as safe as the companies say they are.

Common sense is not as common as you think.

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#1980714 20-Mar-2018 21:07

Also, Volvo. Urban legend.

cadman

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#1980737 20-Mar-2018 21:54

You can't stop a suicidal pedestrian from using your vehicle to their own end. The laws of physics still apply to driverless vehicles.

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#1980795 21-Mar-2018 07:15

bmt:

One single death after how many miles of driverless operation? As compared to human driving?

I think this 1 death is very high.

NZ is tracking to 400 deaths per year, we have 2 million cars, and for that number in use for 365 days to get 400 deaths is more or less 1 per day for 2 million cars.

How many driverless are used in testing in the US? No idea but as its a handful of locations, it's likely to be dozens not millions.

We need to know more about this death. Did she walk out suddenly into its path, or did the car have ample warning to brake and divert? before this testing hit the public roading system, they must have tested against all manner of avoidable and unavoidable objects, so I want to know was this avoidable or reducible. If it was, why didnt the car react. And also how much responsibility does that car have, and its human caretaker driver.

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#1980847 21-Mar-2018 08:54

tdgeek:

bmt:

One single death after how many miles of driverless operation? As compared to human driving?

I think this 1 death is very high.

NZ is tracking to 400 deaths per year, we have 2 million cars, and for that number in use for 365 days to get 400 deaths is more or less 1 per day for 2 million cars.

How many driverless are used in testing in the US? No idea but as its a handful of locations, it's likely to be dozens not millions.

We need to know more about this death. Did she walk out suddenly into its path, or did the car have ample warning to brake and divert? before this testing hit the public roading system, they must have tested against all manner of avoidable and unavoidable objects, so I want to know was this avoidable or reducible. If it was, why didnt the car react. And also how much responsibility does that car have, and its human caretaker driver.

Yup, I agree, its too high already at just 1...I wonder if comparing my actual mileage against that driverless car, would I be worse or better? Given I have not managed to kill (or crash even) in about 30 years of driving :\

It had to happen eventually at some stage, but what will be interesting is to hear the details come out of the situation and the likely remedy to path the way to a solution.

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#1980851 21-Mar-2018 09:01

The video report shows a bent bicycle in the frame, but no mention in the written account.

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#1980864 21-Mar-2018 09:25

scuwp: So it was the pedestrians fault?

Probably. I bet pedestrians and cyclists are safer around driverless cars than human driven cars. I hope this tragedy doesn't lead to irrational blowback and delays in the technology coming into general use.

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#1980866 21-Mar-2018 09:28

vexxxboy:

bmt:

One single death after how many miles of driverless operation? As compared to human driving?

I'd replace every single car with driverless ones tomorrow if the technology was there. The downside is that the resultant reduced death rate would actually be bad for the planet but that's an existential crisis for society really..

the problem with testing in the USA is that reporting is voluntary, so how many incidents have not been reported if they show driverless cars are not as safe as the companies say they are.

Really? It won't be voluntary to report injury accidents.

I would be very surprised if their testing is not under strict reporting conditions.

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