Woman dies in Arizona after being hit by Uber self-driving SUV

[Dashinka 23,200]

TEMPE, Ariz./SAN FRANCISCO - A woman crossing a street was killed by an Uber self-driving sport utility vehicle in Arizona, police said on Monday, prompting the ride services company to suspend its autonomous vehicle program.

The accident in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe dealt a potential blow not only to Uber's strategy but the eventual rollout of robot cars on public roads. 

It was the first fatality from a self-driving vehicle, which are being tested around the globe in a high-profile race by global automakers and tech companies expecting that autonomous vehicles will transform transportation and the ride services business.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/woman-dies-in-arizona-after-being-hit-by-uber-self-driving-car/ar-BBKqSzV?OCID=ansmsnnews11

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

so do they arrest the programmers for this death?

[Dashinka 23,200]

17 minutes ago, Ban Hammer said:

so do they arrest the programmers for this death?

Since this is the first fatal incident, Time will tell.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

2 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

TEMPE, Ariz./SAN FRANCISCO - A woman crossing a street was killed by an Uber self-driving sport utility vehicle in Arizona, police said on Monday, prompting the ride services company to suspend its autonomous vehicle program.

The accident in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe dealt a potential blow not only to Uber's strategy but the eventual rollout of robot cars on public roads. 

It was the first fatality from a self-driving vehicle, which are being tested around the globe in a high-profile race by global automakers and tech companies expecting that autonomous vehicles will transform transportation and the ride services business.

 

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/woman-dies-in-arizona-after-being-hit-by-uber-self-driving-car/ar-BBKqSzV?OCID=ansmsnnews11

 

   No doubt they are moving a little too fast with this technology. I wish I could say I didn't see this happening at some point but I always thought it was just a matter of time.

 

   On the other hand, I drove past a guy who drove straight into a lamp post the other day. The sidewalk was leading up to the high school so there were groups of teens all over. No one was hurt, but very easily could have been. Humans cause more damage with vehicles than driverless cars ever could. There's kind of a visceral reaction to knowing it was a driverless car that is probably a bit misplaced. 

[TBoneTX 43,020]

Ban driven and driverless cars NOW.

[Dashinka 23,200]

9 hours ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   No doubt they are moving a little too fast with this technology. I wish I could say I didn't see this happening at some point but I always thought it was just a matter of time.

 

   On the other hand, I drove past a guy who drove straight into a lamp post the other day. The sidewalk was leading up to the high school so there were groups of teens all over. No one was hurt, but very easily could have been. Humans cause more damage with vehicles than driverless cars ever could. There's kind of a visceral reaction to knowing it was a driverless car that is probably a bit misplaced. 

I am fine with the autonomous features coming for cars, but I don't think we will see fully autonomous (Level 5) for a really long time.  We may see them in some closed circuit areas, but as the article stated, they still have difficultly in bad weather, and I imagine things would be more difficulty on unpaved roads.  I think what a lot of people forget is that these cars still have human input in the form of software development, and the DFMEA for the software will be exceedingly complex.

 

In this case, it appears that the woman was most likely at fault by darting out in traffic, and anyone driving by (driver input or not) may have hit her. 

 

I just encountered a driver that came on the left side of a four lane divider into oncoming traffic.  Luckily, the area is low speed and the traffic was light, but I would hope that an autonomous car would avoid that kind of thing. 

[Steeleballz 7,550]

8 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

I am fine with the autonomous features coming for cars, but I don't think we will see fully autonomous (Level 5) for a really long time.  We may see them in some closed circuit areas, but as the article stated, they still have difficultly in bad weather, and I imagine things would be more difficulty on unpaved roads.  I think what a lot of people forget is that these cars still have human input in the form of software development, and the DFMEA for the software will be exceedingly complex.

 

In this case, it appears that the woman was most likely at fault by darting out in traffic, and anyone driving by (driver input or not) may have hit her. 

 

I just encountered a driver that came on the left side of a four lane divider into oncoming traffic.  Luckily, the area is low speed and the traffic was light, but I would hope that an autonomous car would avoid that kind of thing. 

 

   I did notice it said the driverless car was going 40 mph in a 35 mph zone. Maybe simulating human habits a little too closely there. Not sure it would have made a difference if she darted out into traffic though.

[Dashinka 23,200]

8 minutes ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   I did notice it said the driverless car was going 40 mph in a 35 mph zone. Maybe simulating human habits a little too closely there. Not sure it would have made a difference if she darted out into traffic though.

I had heard about the car doing 40, but I hadn't heard that it was a 35 mph zone.  This might make the fault determination a little more fuzzy, but time will tell.  Back in my fire department days, we were called out to an accident where a car hit a pedestrian.  In this case, accounts said that the pedestrian was high on something and decided to go an lay in the middle of the lane (not the middle of the road) of a state highway at 2am in a very rural area (55 mph zone) with few street lights.  The driver may not have seen the person until it was too late, but it was determined that the driver was slightly over the legal limit so off to jail he went.  Not sure this Arizona incident is exactly the same, but the legal and civil system will sort it out.

[Dashinka 23,200]

Just wow.  I thought self driving cars were supposed to see better in the dark?  Based on the dashcam video, this doesn’t appear to be a case where the pedestrian darted out into the roadway, but was coming from left to right and was in the road for quite a bit of time prior to being struck.  I can understand that the human driver may have had a hard time seeing her, but the electronic sensors should have seen something.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5529453/Video-shows-moment-pedestrian-killed-self-driving-Uber-car.html

[charmander 692]

7 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Just wow.  I thought self driving cars were supposed to see better in the dark?  Based on the dashcam video, this doesn’t appear to be a case where the pedestrian darted out into the roadway, but was coming from left to right and was in the road for quite a bit of time prior to being struck.  I can understand that the human driver may have had a hard time seeing her, but the electronic sensors should have seen something.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5529453/Video-shows-moment-pedestrian-killed-self-driving-Uber-car.html

These cars typically have IR night vision cameras, proximity sensors, radar, and also lidars. I'm sure at least one of these sensors picked up the victim but whatever threshold they set, unfortunately it didn't pass thru. I don't think the operator could have reacted in this case either.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

7 hours ago, Bill & Katya said:

Just wow.  I thought self driving cars were supposed to see better in the dark?  Based on the dashcam video, this doesn’t appear to be a case where the pedestrian darted out into the roadway, but was coming from left to right and was in the road for quite a bit of time prior to being struck.  I can understand that the human driver may have had a hard time seeing her, but the electronic sensors should have seen something.

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5529453/Video-shows-moment-pedestrian-killed-self-driving-Uber-car.html

 

   That was ugly. The car didn't slow at all. Definitely need to look at the technology and see what went wrong.

 

   I'll say too though, I used to ride my bike at night a lot. I would never have crossed an unlit road like that with a car anywhere near, and I don't think I've ever crossed a road without looking in the direction that the nearest vehicle would be coming from.

  

[Dashinka 23,200]

1 hour ago, charmander said:

These cars typically have IR night vision cameras, proximity sensors, radar, and also lidars. I'm sure at least one of these sensors picked up the victim but whatever threshold they set, unfortunately it didn't pass thru. I don't think the operator could have reacted in this case either.

I agree.  Something in the programming didn't recognize this as a person and did not attempt to slow down at all.  I also agree, it may have been very difficult for the human driver to do anything either.

 

[Ban Hammer 12,829]

[bcking 3,157]

There was an operator in the driver's seat correct? So whatever happened was beyond human intervention. Assuming he was maintaining a typical level of alertness for a driver in a vehicle.

 

Autonomous cars won't ever get the fatality rate down to 0. Mistakes will always happen, they just need to be safer than humans (pick up things quicker, react quicker, etc...). To be honest, that shouldn't be that hard to achieve considering how bad we are as a whole when it comes to how we drive. 

[Dashinka 23,200]

1 hour ago, bcking said:

There was an operator in the driver's seat correct? So whatever happened was beyond human intervention. Assuming he was maintaining a typical level of alertness for a driver in a vehicle.

 

Autonomous cars won't ever get the fatality rate down to 0. Mistakes will always happen, they just need to be safer than humans (pick up things quicker, react quicker, etc...). To be honest, that shouldn't be that hard to achieve considering how bad we are as a whole when it comes to how we drive. 

While I agree with you, I am still troubled with this accident.  I would think with these cars testing on public roads they would be able to distinguish a person walking across the street in the dark.