Autonomous Vehicles

[jeb6294]

Did anyone else see the video of the accident?  I've got to assume that the vehicle uses something besides visual cues so the car still missed something, but damn, if I was driving I probably would have hit her too.  First time I saw it was watching the news on the iPad.  Second time was on the 55" TV in the living room.  Even when I knew what I was watching for, I didn't see the lady until the car was on top of her.  They've got the dash cam going, interior and exterior, so it still doesn't let Uber off the hook completely because it looked like the safety driver was probably on their phone, but even if they weren't, I'm thinking the lady still would have been hit.

 

[Road Guy]

I didn't see the video but would like to if you have it handy?

I wonder how these will do in a downtown urban environment where you have people and bikes who have no regard for crosswalks signals, or bikes that ignore traffic signals? I am downtown Denver 3 days a week and the pedestrians and bikes swarm the roads like zombies with no care to what the crosswalk signal says and apparently bike commuters don't have to stop for red lights in this town - going to rig up my dashboard cam this weekend if I can remember to.

 

[Supe]

The auto manufacturing community has taken the lead by accepting full liability

I haven't seen this happen yet, because I'm unaware of a make or model being sold presently that doesn't have at least some failsafe where the driver is required to take the wheel.  I will agree that they've taken full liability when a model is sold either with no steering wheel/pedals, or with a retractable setup that the driver can't immediately grab/use at the sound of an alarm/HUD warning.

 

[csb]

Level 5 is coming. 

(Read that like "Winter is coming.")

 

[jeb6294]

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2018/mar/22/video-released-of-uber-self-driving-crash-that-killed-woman-in-arizona

And now all the conspiracy theorists are coming out of the woodwork to claim that the road isn't as dark as it is in the original video.  If it isn't, from what I can see in some of the other videos, then we still have a lady coming out from behind a big tree/bush to cross a 5-lane road at night.  So even though Uber still isn't out of the woods, she wasn't some innocent victim.

 

[Road Guy]

yeah Ill agree that one may not be on the vehicle / maybe if the driver was paying attention..

I had a homeless guy nearly step off in front my vehicle from the median yesterday afternoon. I ended up having to swerve to next lane not to hit him.. I don't know how a computer would adjust for that though

 

[MA_PE]

Interesting that the pedestrian was pushing the bike and didn't look down the road to see if any traffic was coming.    Based on the spped and image, I'm not sure I would've seen that woman until it was too late.  Maybe the car need to be programmed to put on high beams for better video processing.  Definitely not a typical scenario

 

[Road Guy]

maybe that's what planners mean by complete streets!

 

[Audi Driver P.E.]

Not a single reflector on the bike. Wearing a black jacket at night. Crossing a busy street slowly. NOT in any sort of cross walk. Didn't even LOOK for traffic. Was this some sort of setup?  Did that person have a death wish?

 

[Dleg]

The real story is is why didn't the vehicle sense her - it uses radar and lidar to sense objects in order to apply brakes, in addition to visual monitoring.  In theory, the car should have easily sensed the pedestrian and come to a stop much, much faster than any human, but it seems like it completely missed this one. 

This has got me thinking, though, maybe this is how the world of Pixar's "Cars" movies gets started?

 

[csb]

This has got me thinking, though, maybe this is how the world of Pixar's "Cars" movies gets started?

Thanks for haunting my dreams, Dleg. 

 

[wilheldp_PE]

Unless the laws and regulations are shaped in such a way that protects the manufacturer from liability, autonomy is at risk.  If a few high profile court cases determine that the manufacturer's software is culpable in a manslaughter case and set a precedent, the incentive to manufacture autonomous vehicles goes away.

I think the manufacturer will only bear liability for malfunctions, which are exceptionally easily provable.  The sensor package necessary to execute full autonomy provides an asinine amount of data, and I'm positive that a "black box" style data recorder will be required for any licensed fully autonomous vehicles.  If/when an accident occurs, all you have to do is review the visible camera, IR, radar, lidar, and controls data and determine whether the fault lies with the person/vehicle that got hit or a malfunction of the sensors/software.  It's no longer a he said/she said situation where the pedestrian (or their lawyer) says the car/driver was at fault and the driver/manufacturer says "they jumped out in front of me."  There will be video footage and data to back up the manufacturer to say exactly what happens.  If that data points to a malfunction, then the victim has an airtight case (after they subpoena the information).

The only legislation/regulation I support on autonomous vehicles is the mandatory collection of data in a black box style recorder, and the obligation to turn that information over to authorities and victims/representatives in the event of an accident.  It *should* make the process of assigning guilt trivial, but when lawyers are involved, they will argue over whether snow is actually white.