Pedestrian killed by Uber self-driving car, testing stops in all cities
Safety driver was behind the wheel of car, which was in self-driving mode, in Arizona tragedy, and the company has now halted all testing of the technology.
A woman in Tempe, Ariz. was struck by an Uber self-driving car late Sunday night and has since passed away, according to local TV station ABC 15.
Uber has told news outlets that it is cooperating with the investigation- and as a result, CNBC reported, Uber has announced the immediate halt of all testing of self-driving cars.
Uber, pioneering ride-sharing company, has long pursued self-driving car technology, as they bought a company called Otto for that purpose, and recently settled a lawsuit from Google's Waymo for $244 million.
Despite some media reports, the Arizona tragedy is not the first-ever death involving self-driving car technology. A Tesla driver, Joshua Brown, was killed while testing Tesla's autopilot mode in July 2016.
In late 2016, at the urging of Arizona's governor, Uber pulled a self-driving car test program from San Francisco and moved it to Arizona.
If the tragedy shakes consumer faith in such technologies, it could have an effect on Apple's plans for self-driving technology, as Apple is at an earlier stage of testing its own autonomous cars and is said to be either "all in or all out."
A woman in Tempe, Ariz. was struck by an Uber self-driving car late Sunday night and has since passed away, according to local TV station ABC 15.
Uber has told news outlets that it is cooperating with the investigation- and as a result, CNBC reported, Uber has announced the immediate halt of all testing of self-driving cars.
Uber, pioneering ride-sharing company, has long pursued self-driving car technology, as they bought a company called Otto for that purpose, and recently settled a lawsuit from Google's Waymo for $244 million.
Despite some media reports, the Arizona tragedy is not the first-ever death involving self-driving car technology. A Tesla driver, Joshua Brown, was killed while testing Tesla's autopilot mode in July 2016.
In late 2016, at the urging of Arizona's governor, Uber pulled a self-driving car test program from San Francisco and moved it to Arizona.
If the tragedy shakes consumer faith in such technologies, it could have an effect on Apple's plans for self-driving technology, as Apple is at an earlier stage of testing its own autonomous cars and is said to be either "all in or all out."
Comments
did it hit a cyclist too?
the video talks about the bicyclist being hit, the article talks about a pedestrian jaywalking.
i am still trying to wrap my head around how the person sitting behind the wheel allowed this to happen...
I am not fully comfortable with the tech yet and don't think it is fully baked for city travel.
Tesla did not market Autopilot as driverless technology, listed it as a work in progress and plainly stated that the drivers should remain engaged with the controls and aware of the traffic at all times.
The man who was killed was disregarding all of the instructions given by Tesla and was clowning with a cell phone when he died. He was the author of his own demise as he operated the car in a manner other than what was described by Tesla.
Autopilot at that time should be described as a driver assistant and in beta. It was not marketed as a driverless technology ready for autonomous operation.
As someone who used to own Tesla shares I have followed this company and I would suggest a retraction of the quoted passage is in order. Mr Brown died not following the clear instructions provided by the company that made and marketed the car.
How many cars & trucks and for how many miles compared to the paltry number of Ubers and others?
Not exactly a comparable database.
I'm guessing that speed was the single factor that killed that woman. Less speed, and she would have survived.
Then there is this:
https://medium.com/99-mph/introducing-the-marchetti-a-unit-of-measure-for-transit-379aa51170a4
Maybe, autonomous vehicles are a shitty solution to most traffic problems.
At this point in time, I think that consumers are a long way away from being comfortable with self driving cars, governments are a long way from widespread usage and sales, and I think fleets are a long way from using these products. after my initial excitement with the concept, I this as a product liability nightmare. to get all of this right, i see many years until widespread usage.
1. Self-driving tech should be more thoroughly tested in a closed course with realistically simulated vehicle and pedestrian traffic before they are unleashed on public roads.
2. But even before closed-course testing is authorized, the feds should research then set up performance and safety standards for closed-course testing. Standards that should be achieved before vehicles are allowed to use public roads.
3. Vehicles that are then tested on public roads should be clearly marked and be required to follow a strict protocol as to routes, hours, environmental conditions, and expansion thereof. With progression to more complex routes and environments, and more hours contingent on achieving properly calibrated safety and performance benchmarks.
Still, the tech is not going away.
I am inclined to think that one reason they are 'behind' in self-driving tech is that they have given more thought to the unglamorous issues like safety and reliability and are addressing those more seriously, thus 'slowing down' development. In truth development isn't slowed down because safety should be part of developing this product. What is being slowed down is progress towards product introduction.
So any loss in consumer faith in self-driving technology would actually be an advantage for Apple as people probably have greater faith that Apple would take safety aspects more seriously than those proven reckless beta-testers, Google, Uber, Tesla, etc.
By Apple's own philosophy, they don't need to be first. They need to be the best.
Many on this blog, and in the wider techno-echo-chamber, loved to blabber on about how autonomous vehicles were right around the corner, and that soon (within 5 years, starting last year), such vehicles would revolutionize transportation. Every manner of job was going to be lost.
Perhaps the reality that "this is really hard" will get some consideration.