Sad Uber Event

An autonomous Uber vehicle struck and killed a woman crossing the street on her bicycle:

https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/self-driving-uber-involved-in-...

Not commenting as to who or what was at fault, just saying it's sad whenever a cyclist (or driver or pedestrian, for that matter), is injured or killed. 

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Permalink Reply by Maurice on March 20, 2018 at 6:22am

Robot cars don't need to be perfect. They just need to be better than human-driven cars.

 

That's a pretty low bar, since over 100 people per day are killed by human drivers in the US alone.

 

No reason to think that the engineers can't accomplish that feat in the next couple of decades.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 20, 2018 at 6:33am

I've read that human drivers kill about 35,000. Stoopid robots might reduce that by 5000 they say. So I guess I should be hopeful. :-/

Permalink Reply by mike w. on March 20, 2018 at 12:31pm

So, here's a question for the lawyers: Who is responsible for this fatality? Uber? The human "driver?" The victim?

When the next time comes and a pedestrian or other non-motorised person is killed, who gets sued? What kind of liability insurance should an autonomous vehicle have to carry? 

i fear that incidents like this will raise victim-blaming to a higher art form.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 20, 2018 at 1:19pm

mike w, I'm not a lawyer, I only like to play one here on the Chainlink.:-)
Responsible party - Uber investors through their liabilities/insurance policies.
Autonomous vehicles should be rated as unproven and high-risk to their insurers and thus charged much higher rates.
Yes, victim-blaming is an interesting art form, but as Jim Reho has said here, they are gonna have to explain around all the data gathering information there cars have. They've already victim-blamed Elaine Hertzberg, and some are speculating if she has no family or advocates to sue in her behalf, the company might get off with less damages.
I would also just like to drop in a note about the coincidence of yesterday's (3-19-18) two top national news report stories; both were cycling related. We are part of this world and national community and we demand to be treated with respect. Always!

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 21, 2018 at 3:32pm

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-03-21/police-release-v...

Dashcam video of deadly self-driving Uber crash released.

Uber safety driver Rafael Vasquez does not seem to be spending much time paying attention to monitoring the road ahead.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 21, 2018 at 9:04pm

Aerial view of incident area.
Elaine was moving from the red X brick sidewalk from the bus stop area on the right,
to connect with the bus in lower left intersection.
She was avoiding the 7-lane hectic intersection.

Don't these cars have infrared imaging sensor systems?

Permalink Reply by Jeremy on March 22, 2018 at 2:48am
Wall Street Journal has an article in today's paper. It is behind a paywall, but here is the headline:

Video Shows Moments Before Uber Robot Car Rammed Into Pedestrian
Footage also appears to show human safety operator at the wheel was looking down until the moment of impact
Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on March 22, 2018 at 2:51am
Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 22, 2018 at 4:26am

I posted the video here (above) when it was first released at 7pm Wednesday by the Az. Police. I guess nobody reads my posts here anyways. No biggie, sorry, i'm always cranky before spring break. Take care all!
Go Loyola!

Permalink Reply by Jim Reho on March 22, 2018 at 5:51am

Oops, I was on the bus and saw the still but not the link.  Completely with you on Loyola.  They play basketball as it should be played.  Nevada might be a bit too athletic for them, though.

Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 22, 2018 at 6:09am

Thanks Jim. Sorry. I probably post too much anyways (too much coffee). Goin' on break, it's all yours.
Yep Loyola is a talented, feisty and fortunate team and Nevada is gonna be tough. I just hope that they do their best and the ref's call a fair game. The sweet 16 ain't a bad accomplishment.
Take care, hopefully see you all down the road . . .

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Permalink Reply by Tom A.K. on March 22, 2018 at 2:23pm

Way to go LOYOLA !

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