Slashdot Mirror
Police Chief: Uber Self-Driving Car 'Likely' Not At Fault In Fatal Crash (arstechnica.com)
An anonymous reader quotes a report from Ars Technica: The chief of the Tempe Police has told the San Francisco Chronicle that Uber is likely not responsible for the Sunday evening crash that killed 49-year-old pedestrian Elaine Herzberg. "I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident," said Chief Sylvia Moir. Herzberg was "pushing a bicycle laden with plastic shopping bags," according to the Chronicle's Carolyn Said, when she "abruptly walked from a center median into a lane of traffic." After viewing video captured by the Uber vehicle, Moir concluded that "it's very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway." Moir added that "it is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available." The police said that the vehicle was traveling 38 miles per hour in a 35 mile-per-hour zone, according to the Chronicle -- though a Google Street View shot of the roadway taken last July shows a speed limit of 45 miles per hour along that stretch of road.
What a coincidence that it just happens to be a SDC that just happens to kill a pedestrian! What are the odds of that happening?
Were there any tire marks indicating the car tried to swerve or brake to even try to miss the pedestrian? Or did it just roll right over her like she wasn't even there?
A human driver, valuing the life of a fellow human being (or any other living creature for that matter) would at least try to not hit them, even if that meant swerving into a stationary object (parked car, lamppost, etc) or having to brake so hard they were struck from behind by another vehicle. Did any of these things happen? Or did it just digitally shrug and keep going? The answer to these questions matters greatly. These so-called 'self driving cars', with their 'pseudo-intelligence' (I will not use the term 'artificial intelligence' because it is not accurate, there is no 'intelligence' in there) are, supposedly, watching in all directions all the time and supposedly has a reaction time better than a human driver; sure doesn't look like it from here.