Uber Settles With Family of Woman Killed By Self-Driving Car, Avoids Lawsuit (arstechnica.com)

It appears that Uber won't go to court to settle a lawsuit after one of its self-driving cars killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona earlier this month. An anonymous Slashdot reader shares a report from Ars Technica: Uber has reached a settlement with the family of the woman killed by an Uber self-driving car. Uber reached the settlement with the daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg, who died at age 49 after being hit by the Uber vehicle in Tempe, Arizona. The settlement presumably includes a cash payment, but no details were provided by either Uber or the family's attorney. "The matter has been resolved," said Christina Perez Hesano, an attorney for Herzberg's family, according to reports by Reuters and NPR.

Comments

That was a little too quick.

[nimbius]

speaking from experience as someone who was injured by a faulty amusement park ride, there are a few things that nobody talks about during these events. namely:

reaching out: companies that are clearly at-fault or expect to lose a court case for your injury are about as persistent as the FBI in finding you after the event. Leading up to surgery for a compound fracture, I was asked by nurses if i knew "my friend" from the amusement park and would allow them to see me. These were attorneys and PR representatives. two of them gave no name to the desk, one of them roamed the ER for 5 minutes trying to find me before being escorted out by security.

more reaching out.: I had 11 voicemails from various firms and individuals working directly with the amusement park. They all started the same, condolences for "the event" but never admitting anything more than "sad that i wasnt feeling well." I had two flower bouquets sent to my hospital room, both came with a stapled 20 page release/disclosure and instructions on how to sign and how to return.

helping hands: When i was discharged I had two separate requests to pay my hospital bill, neither directly from the amusement park but one suspiciously from a "health" provider. I also had about a dozen more voicemails growing increasingly urgent. At some point a pizza was sent to my house and a get-well-soon card. no sender was named. The next day four people in suits arrived at my door and wanted to talk about the incident insisting I could be liable for damages to the park if the matter wasnt resolved quickly.

The point is: lawyer up and dont settle. if someone is at fault for what happened the worst thing you can do is settle because nothing will get fixed. The company gets to claim no-fault, and can easily pay to have their story killed in the local news. My accident didnt even make the newspaper, but the company had to admit fault and disclose the event to shareholders. I was also successful in getting the rides full safety history disclosed, with more than 40 violations, which resulted in it being shut down. this triggered a full OSHA inspection, which shut down two more rides and ended up in documented fines and violations for the company.

Re:needs to go to criminal court

[Keith_Beef]

Yes.

The state prosecutor needs to look at this and decide if there is a case of criminal negligence, wilful blindness, or whatever Arizona law has.

It would also be a good idea for Arizona's voters to look at their Governor's cosy relations with Uber, and how he encouraged slack requirements for driverless vehicles at a time when California was enacting stricter requirements for them.

A tranche of emails published through a document request from The Guardian reveals that governor Doug Ducey went to some lengths to encourage Uber to move its program from California to Arizona, including allowing it to test self-driving cars in Phoenix back in August 2016 without letting the public know.

The close relationship between Uber and Ducey paid off when California forced Uber to shut down its self-driving program after their cars were spotted running several red lights in San Francisco and it was discovered the company had never applied for autonomous vehicle testing permits.

Ducey embraced their arrival, putting out a statement that read: "Arizona welcomes Uber self-driving cars with open arms and wide open roads. While California puts the brakes on innovation and change with more bureaucracy and more regulation, Arizona is paving the way for new technology and new businesses." It is notable that he did not mention that his office knew Uber had been secretly testing its cars for months in his state.

Source:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/28/uber_selfdriving_death_may_have_been_due_to_lidar_blind_spot/

Hey, Arizona! Do you want your kids to be killed by Uber's experiments? Or do you want Uber to make cars safer before unleashing them on public roads?

A start, might be to go back to multiple LIDAR sensors around the car, instead of the cheaper single sensor on the roof.