Self-driving Uber kills Arizona woman in first fatal crash involving pedestrian

[Deleted]

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-a8263921.html

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-arizona-tempe

The autonomous car, operated by Uber, struck a pedestrian and killed them in what is thought to be the first death of its kind. The autonomous taxi was operating as part of a trial that Uber hopes would represent the future but has now been suspended.

At the time of the accident, which occurred overnight, the car was in autonomous mode with a vehicle operator behind the wheel, Tempe police said.

Looks like the self driving car fantasy is crashing into reality.

Now there will be more due dates for 'the future' pushed back, and promises downscaled.

The human takeover fudge they have in this case clearly is worse than an actual driver because of they wont have any feeling for the setting which leads to slower reactions in emergency situations. A slower response than a human that is driving the whole time is just a worse outcome.

Hope Uber get sued hard.

[Moralgy]

A woman walked outside the crosswalk and got hit by one of these cars? I thought there were safety precautions in place for when this happened with these cars.

[The Stormbringer]

How long has this been running, with how many vehicles, and there's only one death? Jeepers, it's almost like it's still hundreds of times better than human drivers! Nah, better panic and freak out and shut it down ASAP. /s

[Trassk]

oh my, its almost like trusting machines to account of human random decision making in a life or death situation was a bad idea :O

[Deleted]

This is going to be a landmark case for driverless cars.

Will Uber be charged with manslaughter? Or the person in the car? Or anyone at all?

[Moralgy]

This is going to be a landmark case for driverless cars.

Will Uber be charged with manslaughter? Or the person in the car? Or anyone at all?

From the little bit of details from the cops, it could either be no one or the person that died. More information is needed though.

[iETHOSi]

Looks like the self driving car fantasy is crashing into reality.

In all seriousness though. What was this "operator" doing... sleeping?

[Pyro1990]

I'd like to know how "bang bang" this was. If she walked out outside of a crosswalk did she walk directly in front of the car? Did the sensors not have time to react. Did the driver try to manually correct but was unable to? Not really much to go on in the articles for details.

[Milchshake]

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-a8263921.html

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-arizona-tempe




Looks like the self driving car fantasy is crashing into reality.

Now there will be more due dates for 'the future' pushed back, and promises downscaled.

The human takeover fudge they have in this case clearly is worse than an actual driver because of they wont have any feeling for the setting which leads to slower reactions in emergency situations. A slower response than a human that is driving the whole time is just a worse outcome.

Hope Uber get sued hard.

But it was designed by a engineer? Those guys are saints that only design the most perfect code. We're lucky all those STEM guys even deign to give us mere plebs the mere time of day.

We just need to worship engineers and programmers harder. To keep them from designing technology or bridges that won't kill us.

Maybe if we sacrifice our humanities and arts programs at the altar of STEM they will finally be appeased?

/s

[Techno-Druid]

How long has this been running, with how many vehicles, and there's only one death? Jeepers, it's almost like it's still hundreds of times better than human drivers! Nah, better panic and freak out and shut it down ASAP. /s

This. Self-driving cars are still in their infancy anyway, I see no reason to not try and fix the issue and advance further rather than letting technophobia cloud our judgement and shutting it all down.

[pionock]

A woman walked outside the crosswalk and got hit by one of these cars? I thought there were safety precautions in place for when this happened with these cars.

Keep in mind that I have only a vague understanding of these autonomous vehicles, but Doug Demuro did a video on the Tesla Model X and showed its auto-stopping tech. He only did it at slow speeds, so I don't know how good it is at higher speeds. We don't really know what exactly happened; she could've been crossing at the wrong time. I'm not sure how those cars work with stoplights, but you'd think if there's a red light, the car is supposed to stop.

We're certainly far from having fully autonomous vehicles.

[God Save The King]

How long has this been running, with how many vehicles, and there's only one death? Jeepers, it's almost like it's still hundreds of times better than human drivers! Nah, better panic and freak out and shut it down ASAP. /s

I agree. Any unnecessary death is still bad, but computers will and do make far less errors than humans.

Plus this woman was illegally jaywalking outside of a crosswalk. There's no information given about the distance. Perhaps she walked out in front of it at the last moment. Regardless, people should not be walking infront of an oncoming car, illegally. Check both ways was something I was taught before age 5.

The number of incidents are incredibly low, especially given the number of driven hours and miles. I don't understand the panic honestly. It feels like people are fine with a tremendous number of motor vehicle related deaths, so long as they're at the hands of humans, not computers.

[Zabatakis]

I am pretty sure humans hit and kill pedestrians too, and I would wager at a higher rate.


I am not willing to knee-jerk scrap a thing because it only improves the situation of a problem instead of outright solving it.

[Dextroden]

I agree. Any unnecessary death is still bad, but computers will and do make far less errors than humans.

Plus this woman was illegally jaywalking outside of a crosswalk. There's no information given about the distance. Perhaps she walked out in front of it at the last moment. Regardless, people should not be walking infront of an oncoming car, illegally. Check both ways was something I was taught before age 5.

The number of incidents are incredibly low, especially given the number of driven hours and miles. I don't understand the panic honestly. It feels like people are fine with a tremendous number of motor vehicle related deaths, so long as they're at the hands of humans, not computers.

Wait. So it's not okay for the police to stop or citation someone for, in your own words, illegally jaywalking, but getting hit is a proper outcome?

OT: People need to consider that science fiction has been a long continuation of "If humans make something that can think, it'll turn on us" and that is a piece of why people are going to be nervous. Personally, I'm worried about the people that will inevitably try to hack them.

[Dacien]

They definitely need to get the programming down to a razor sharp edge, there's no room for error. Something like this sets back public sentiment in a huge way, rightly or wrongly. Safety is a major concern. Imagine a major software bug, causing a fleet of self-driving cars to go berserk, the damage that could cause. I know that sounds like alarmism, I just want exacting software that will prevent tragedy before we hand over the keys to a program.

[Sage89]

if She jaywalked infront of the car I don't think anything could have been done to stop it regardless of who was driving.

[Dextroden]

They definitely need to get the programming down to a razor sharp edge, there's no room for error. Something like this sets back public sentiment in a huge way, rightly or wrongly. Safety is a major concern. Imagine a major software bug, causing a fleet of self-driving cars to go berserk, the damage that could cause. I know that sounds like alarmism, I just want exacting software that will prevent tragedy before we hand over the keys to a program.

You know what? Self driving cars are like nuclear power.

They have a great use but have to be deployed properly because every fuck up turns the populace off to it.

[Vorrum]

But it was designed by a engineer? Those guys are saints that only design the most perfect code. We're lucky all those STEM guys even deign to give us mere plebs the mere time of day.

We just need to worship engineers and programmers harder. To keep them from designing technology or bridges that won't kill us.

Maybe if we sacrifice our humanities and arts programs at the altar of STEM they will finally be appeased?

/s

No. Give me more money hippie.

On topic: Would wait to see result of investigation, woman could be at fault from j-walking perhaps, or the car had a malfunction.

[Flarelaine]

https://www.independent.co.uk/life-s...-a8263921.html

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...-arizona-tempe


Looks like the self driving car fantasy is crashing into reality.

Now there will be more due dates for 'the future' pushed back, and promises downscaled.

The human takeover fudge they have in this case clearly is worse than an actual driver because of they wont have any feeling for the setting which leads to slower reactions in emergency situations. A slower response than a human that is driving the whole time is just a worse outcome.

Hope Uber get sued hard.

And once again, an accident is caused by a human breaking the rules.

[Deleted]

And once again, an accident is caused by a human breaking the rules.

Legally speaking, a pedestrian never break the rule if he doesn't jump under the car or take insane risk.

This is how the insurance system works in most EU country. This is why getting an insurance as a car owner is mandatory too.