Self-driving cars take another step backward...

[Overnight]

An Uber in autonomous mode kills someone...

http://www.foxnews.com/us/2018/03/19/self-driving-uber-car-kills-arizona-pedestrian-police-say.html

But here's the real kicker from these earliest news reports like the one above...

"The self-driving Uber was in autonomous mode at the time of the collision, and there was a vehicle operator behind the wheel, police said..."

Considering on how small of a scale the self-driving thing has been implemented on the roads so far, the fact that this happened now with someone behind the wheel is just going to be another delay for this fledgling technology to get anywhere with regulators. Somehow they'll blame the tech for causing the driver to not pay attention, rather than the other way around.

 

[Vertex]

from the CDC: In 2015, 5,376 pedestrians were killed in traffic crashes in the United States.

The only reason this is a story is because a self driving car was involved. No matter how good the tech gets, if you step in front of a moving car that doesnt have room to stop bad things are going to happen. The media will milk this though.

I do hope reliable details of this incident are revealed. Was it a failure of the tech? Or a drunk stepping into traffic? Something in between?

 

[Banjo]

"It’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode,” Sylvia Moir, police chief in Tempe, Arizona, told the San Francisco Chronicle.
https://www.bloomberg.com//news/art...tepped-suddenly-in-front-of-self-driving-uber

 

[tomorton]

Whose work was it which showed that we absolutely need driverless cars?

 

[weewilly]

I wonder how auto insurance would work with driverless cars. The liability surely shifts from the driver to the automation. What (automation) company could possibly absorb all that potential liability?

 

[mlawson71]

The technology apparently isn't as advanced as I thought.
RIP to this poor woman.

 

[newwurldmn]

I wonder how auto insurance would work with driverless cars. The liability surely shifts from the driver to the automation. What (automation) company could possibly absorb all that potential liability?

Their SLA will put the burden on you.

How much financial responsibility does Apple, Microsoft, or Google take when their software fails.

 

[vanzandt]

Whose work was it which showed that we absolutely need driverless cars?

Probably the same guy that shoved smart phones down our throat and created a society of dysfunctional zombies.

 

[weewilly]

Their SLA will put the burden on you.

How much financial responsibility does Apple, Microsoft, or Google take when their software fails.

What rational person would accede to such an arrangement? I wouldn't. It becomes a complicated legal question of who or what is in control of the vehicle at any given time. If I am legally liable for the vehicle 100% of the time, then "driverless" or "self-driving" are complete misnomers.

 

[vanzandt]

Probably the same guy that shoved smart phones down our throat and created a society of dysfunctional zombies.

Or possibly the American Bar Association... because my guess is its gonna keep lawyers gainfully employed for the next 50 years.