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

[bcking 3,157]

6 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

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.  

But if it's trying to replace humans it only has to be able to do as good of a job as a human. Any better is a bonus.

 

So the key question is would an average human operator responded quickly enough?

[Voice of Reason 10,298]

Not autonomous, but my truck has LKAS (Lane Keep Assist), CMS (Collision Mitigation System) as well as ACC (Adaptive Cruise Control).  Having tested it at various speeds and conditions, it is simply amazing.  With no hands on the wheel, it goes around corners and stays within the lines (for a while).  It slows down and speeds up with traffic.  If I approach the lines, it vibrates the wheel and gives me a visual cue to steer back to center.  If I come up on a vehicle in front of me too fast, it brakes as necessary to stop the vehicle.

 

After a bit of driving hands-off, it signals a warning with STEERING REQUIRED.  If I fail to steer, it starts to drift to the right of the lane, and when it gets near the line, it vibrates the wheel, slows 5 mph on the ACC, and re-centers.  But a couple of seconds later, it repeats the procedure.  I have let it go until it slow down to 25 mph (and signals rather loudly that it did so), the point of ACC kicking off due to speed, and it simply drifted to the right side of the road and slowed.

 

Obviously, this is not something you want to test in heavy traffic, but I am more than impressed with what it can do, and not be driverless.  Have already heard real stories (not on the internet) about people who were woken up when the truck saved their lives after they drifted off at the wheel.  Hopefully these “nanny features” as some like to call them save a few lives every year.  Have had a couple of minor false braking instances, but nothing alarming thus far.  

Edited March 22, 2018 by IDWAF

[Dashinka 23,268]

1 hour ago, bcking said:

But if it's trying to replace humans it only has to be able to do as good of a job as a human. Any better is a bonus.

 

So the key question is would an average human operator responded quickly enough?

There are other factors that have to be considered.  In this case, who is held liable, the human driver, the vehicle owner, the programmer?  It will be interesting to see how this case plays out in court particularly since the video has come out and the car never appeared to slow down.  If this was just a human driver at the wheel, more than likely they would have the defense of not seeing the pedestrian, but a self-driving car should be able to see and distinguish the pedestrian, not mow them down.

[Amica Nostra 4,803]

47 minutes ago, Bill & Katya said:

There are other factors that have to be considered.  In this case, who is held liable, the human driver, the vehicle owner, the programmer?  It will be interesting to see how this case plays out in court particularly since the video has come out and the car never appeared to slow down.  If this was just a human driver at the wheel, more than likely they would have the defense of not seeing the pedestrian, but a self-driving car should be able to see and distinguish the pedestrian, not mow them down.

In the long run, if Driver Assist and automation bring the cost of accident losses down,  the insurance companies will figure that out. 

[OriZ 3,157]

1 hour ago, Bill & Katya said:

There are other factors that have to be considered.  In this case, who is held liable, the human driver, the vehicle owner, the programmer?  It will be interesting to see how this case plays out in court particularly since the video has come out and the car never appeared to slow down.  If this was just a human driver at the wheel, more than likely they would have the defense of not seeing the pedestrian, but a self-driving car should be able to see and distinguish the pedestrian, not mow them down.

I think the only one who should be held liable is the deceased. Seriously, I don't want to sound too unsympathetic, but it boggles my mind what pedestrians and cyclists think they are allowed to do. Cross when drivers have the green light around here all the time, run into the road just basically forcing you to slam on your brakes, counting on the fact you will without making sure it happens. Well, the only reason I don't run over your silly ### is because I don't need the trouble, but sure wouldn't feel bad for you if someone else did. This woman was stupid, and should be nominated for the darwin awards. Enough of them already.

Edited March 23, 2018 by OriZ

[TBoneTX 43,133]

8 hours ago, IDWAF said:

my truck has LKAS, CMS, as well as ACC

Get your truck to the hospital NOW, good grief man! 

How could you not have had it inoculated against these?

[jg121783 3,907]

On 3/19/2018 at 7:17 PM, 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. 

It's too early to tell if that is true or not. Only a very small percentage of driverless cars are currently on the road so there isn't much to compare to yet.

[Steeleballz 7,550]

4 hours ago, jg121783 said:

It's too early to tell if that is true or not. Only a very small percentage of driverless cars are currently on the road so there isn't much to compare to yet.

 

   As far as data, that's true, there is not enough empirical yet. To rephrase then, if driverless cars can't ultimately reduce the number of accidents and overall damage below the rate humans are at, the technology is not as good as they are portraying it to be. Granted there are still several things they can't do well yet, like handle rain, snow, dirt roads, and driving in the dark, apparently. The big feature of these vehicles is they are supposed to eliminate some of the human variables like fatigue, distracted driving, road rage etc. 

 

   

[OriZ 3,157]

1 hour ago, Steeleballz said:

 

   As far as data, that's true, there is not enough empirical yet. To rephrase then, if driverless cars can't ultimately reduce the number of accidents and overall damage below the rate humans are at, the technology is not as good as they are portraying it to be. Granted there are still several things they can't do well yet, like handle rain, snow, dirt roads, and driving in the dark, apparently. The big feature of these vehicles is they are supposed to eliminate some of the human variables like fatigue, distracted driving, road rage etc. 

 

   

While it's true there's not enough science demonstrating that yet, my personal belief is that they will drive leaps and bounds better than humans...there's no doubt in my mind about that. It's hard not to. My cat could probably drive better than most humans.

Edited March 23, 2018 by OriZ

[Ban Hammer 12,845]

First image leak of VW's self-driving car

[bcking 3,157]

7 hours ago, OriZ said:

While it's true there's not enough science demonstrating that yet, my personal belief is that they will drive leaps and bounds better than humans...there's no doubt in my mind about that. It's hard not to. My cat could probably drive better than most humans.

I agree. The bar is set quite low when you compare them to humans, so it won't be that hard to achieve.

[Dashinka 23,268]

12 hours ago, bcking said:

I agree. The bar is set quite low when you compare them to humans, so it won't be that hard to achieve.

Particularly given the current obsessive state of connectedness humans (particularly millennials) have.  I cringe when I see someone with a phone to their face driving down the road.  Persoanlly, I think autonomous features will be good in the long run, but will lead to people becoming more lazy.

[Dashinka 23,268]

Interesting update to this story.  It begs the question of is Uber trying to do too much too fast possibly on a shoestring budget.  

 

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-5542605/Waymo-chief-says-tech-averted-fatal-Uber-crash.html