Self Driving car death

[IIamaKing]

http://www.usatoday.com/story/tech/n...-ago/86592458/

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/01/bu...tion.html?_r=0

Sorry if thread exists, did not see one.

I think this is the first death in a self drive car. It is sure to lead to an interesting legal battle and set the tone for liability going forward, in regards to self driving cars.

[abracmike]

Paywall link...

Scratch that, apparently only if adblock is enabled

[Revi]

The legal implications will be interesting, will set an important precedence moving forward.

Still, as far as I understand it, with this death the traffic lethality rate is currently far lower with self driving cars than with manually driven cars.

[The Stormbringer]

It's hard to tell without larger numbers, but so far this is still a tiny fraction of the deaths caused by actual human drivers. It's still a major improvement, and it should be easier to work out flaws in the system than with millions of human beings.

Hell, if this happened in a network of self-driving vehicles that all report their location to each other, there would've been no fatality at all barring some critical failure.

[abracmike]

Not totally sure if this is actually a liability problem though. The guy was watching Harry Potter while behind the wheel, autopilot or not, that's likely going to net him inattentive or maybe reckless driving as mitigating factors against him

[IIamaKing]

Paywall link...

Scratch that, apparently only if adblock is enabled

Oo I got through the first time I went there with no issue, Will get a better link.

[The Stormbringer]

Not totally sure if this is actually a liability problem though. The guy was watching Harry Potter while behind the wheel, autopilot or not, that's likely going to net him inattentive or maybe reckless driving as mitigating factors against him

Isn't that half the point of autopilot? To have the machine handle it while you do other stuff?

[abracmike]

Oo I got through the first time I went there with no issue, Will get a better link.

Eh seems OK if I right click -> Open in new tab at least.
Not sure what that's about, but I was able to pull it up anyway with some fiddling.

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Isn't that half the point of autopilot? To have the machine handle it while you do other stuff?

True, not sure the laws are up to speed in that vein though.

[IIamaKing]

Not totally sure if this is actually a liability problem though. The guy was watching Harry Potter while behind the wheel, autopilot or not, that's likely going to net him inattentive or maybe reckless driving as mitigating factors against him

Thats click bait shit reporting. The Tesla blacks out the screen, he was watching nothing. He was listening to Harry Potter.

[I Push Buttons]

Didn't Tesla claim he was blindsided and would have died whether using autopilot or otherwise?

[abracmike]

Thats click bait shit reporting. The Tesla blacks out the screen, he was watching nothing. He was listening to Harry Potter.

Well scratch that bit on my part then... I don't usually bother with USAToday, and now I remember why =P

[IIamaKing]

Eh seems OK if I right click -> Open in new tab at least.
Not sure what that's about, but I was able to pull it up anyway with some fiddling.

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True, not sure the laws are up to speed in that vein though.

Thats what makes this so important. Laws Re. Selfdrive will be written based off this event.

[ro9ue]

I really hope this one accident doesn't make people start questioning the viability of self-driving cars. Bigger picture - it's a much, MUCH safer system.

[Jonnusthegreat]

Didn't Tesla claim he was blindsided and would have died whether using autopilot or otherwise?

That's what it sounds like from the article at least.

[Masark]

Not really self-driving. The autopilot functionality is NHTSA level 2, which provides limited assistance (lane centreing, adaptive cruise control, automated emergency braking, etc.) to a driver still in full-time control of the vehicle.

Self-driving doesn't happen until level 3, which is what Google's car is.

[IIamaKing]

Didn't Tesla claim he was blindsided and would have died whether using autopilot or otherwise?

The comment I heard was the bright sky made spotting the trailer impossible for the car and very unlikely for the human eye. SO yeh, boned regardless is Teslas standpoint.

[Deleted]

I always stalk bus drivers and tell them what to do. So this isn't something new.

[abracmike]

Thats what makes this so important. Laws Re. Selfdrive will be written based off this event.

Fair enough given listening instead of watching.
Within that context, I'd wager liability against the truck driver provided reasonable person agrees with not seeing the side of the truck.
That said, I'm a little torn on if that was reasonable or not (~ 70/30 towards reasonable)

[Reek]

Didn't Tesla claim he was blindsided and would have died whether using autopilot or otherwise?

"Against a bright spring sky, the car’s sensors system failed to distinguish a large white 18-wheel truck and trailer crossing the highway, Tesla said. The car attempted to drive full speed under the trailer, “with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S”, Tesla said in a blogpost."

The Tesla failed because it couldn't distinguish the truck from the sky and it drove under the truck and decapitated the dude. So if this was a normal car driven by a man, the man would've stopped or swerved and he'd still be living.

This is why I'll never trust self-driving cars. Show me any computer system in today's world that doesn't have bugs, doesn't freeze, that works flawlessly, etc. I'm not putting my entire life in the hands of a computer.

[Annoying]

"Against a bright spring sky, the car’s sensors system failed to distinguish a large white 18-wheel truck and trailer crossing the highway, Tesla said. The car attempted to drive full speed under the trailer, “with the bottom of the trailer impacting the windshield of the Model S”, Tesla said in a blogpost."

The Tesla failed because it couldn't distinguish the truck from the sky and it drove under the truck and decapitated the dude. So if this was a normal car driven by a man, the man would've stopped or swerved and he'd still be living.

This is why I'll never trust self-driving cars. Show me any computer system in today's world that doesn't have bugs, doesn't freeze, that works flawlessly, etc. I'm not putting my entire life in the hands of a computer.

Not a self driving car. It was a regular car, driven by a man, with adaptive cruise control, lane centering, etc. Autopilot still requires that the driver be in full control of the car.