Uber halts self-driving car tests after death

[Chippy_Tea]

We dont need driverless vehicles on our roads especially 44 ton wagons.

The human monitor obviously didn't do his/her job!



Uber said it is suspending self-driving car tests in all North American cities after a fatal accident.

A 49-year-old woman was hit by a car and killed as she crossed the street in Tempe, Arizona.

While self-driving cars have been involved in multiple accidents, it is thought to be the first time an autonomous car has been involved in a fatal collision.

Uber chief Dara Khosrowshahi said the death was "incredibly sad news".

Police said the accident happened Sunday night while the car was in autonomous mode. A human monitor was also behind the wheel.

Police said the woman, Elaine Herzberg, had not been using a pedestrian crossing. She was taken to a local hospital, where she died.

The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board said they were sending teams to Tempe.

'Wake up call'
Companies including Ford, General Motors, Tesla and Waymo are investing heavily in research to develop self-driving cars, which are often characterised as the future of the industry and hailed as a way to reduce traffic accidents.

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Many states across America have welcomed the tests in the hope of keeping themselves at the forefront of new technology.

However, there have been warnings that the technology is being deployed before it is ready.

Anthony Foxx, who served as US Secretary of Transportation under former President Barack Obama, called the accident a "wake up call to the entire [autonomous vehicle] industry and government to put a high priority on safety."

More than a dozen states in the US allow autonomous vehicles on the roads to some degree. Officials typically require a person to be on hand either in the car or remotely in case something goes wrong, according to the Center for Automotive Research.

The US is working on national safety guidelines for such vehicles.

Read in full http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43459156

 

[-Bezza-]

We dont need driverless vehicles on our roads especially 44 ton wagons.

The human monitor obviously didn't do his/her job!

The story doesn't say anything of the circumstances surrounding this and whether it was the car's fault or the lady's. For example, did the pedestrian simply walk out in front of the car without looking?

Quick Google search and there are reports saying the Uber car was not at fault.

"The police chief of Tempe, Arizona, where a woman was struck and killed by one of Uber’s self-driving cars Sunday, says the ride-sharing company is likely not at fault for the accident, following a preliminary investigation.

Chief of Police Sylvia Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle on Monday that video footage taken from cameras equipped to the autonomous Volvo SUV potentially shift the blame to the victim herself, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, rather than the vehicle.

“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 told the paper, adding that the incident occurred roughly 100 yards from a crosswalk. “It is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated managed crosswalks are available,” she said."

 

[Saisonator]

If cars were invented today, there is no way present health and safety standards would allow big lumps of steel and glass which are capable of great 100+ miles an hour to hurtle past pedestrians walking just feet away. With the risk of driver or mechanical error, and the fatal consequences.

I think in a few decades driverless cars will become the normal.
I think car ownership will drop and the system will comprise of vehicles with multiple pods where you book from your phone like an Uber car and share your trip with others. Numbers of vehicles on the road will drop significantly.
All the vehicles will communicate with each other so they would very rarely suffer collisions.
Even if people don't want to give up their cars, they will be pushed into it by taxing them into the alternative.

 

[-Bezza-]

I think the whole driverless car idea is fascinating but it needs to reach a critical mass before it becomes truly impressive. As Saisonator says, if they're all communicating with each other in real-time, the risk of collision between vehicles will be very low. We'll also be able to travel at faster speeds and traffic jams will be all but eliminated. Add on the advances in battery technology, or indeed we might electrify roads, and the future looks quite interesting.

Car ownership might be a thing of the past and instead, we operate solely in an Uber-esque environment where we just call for a vehicle on demand. I would imagine there would be some element of pooling to replace traditional public transport (i.e. an economy option) but I think people will still want private transport.

It could be the death of the trains though and instead our railway lines will be replaced with express lanes into our cities.

Likely to become the mainstream in the next decade or so too.

 

[Gunge]

Are they working on the riderless motorbike, too? What a load of crapola... they're assuming that no-one actually wants to drive cars.

 

[-Bezza-]

Are they working on the riderless motorbike, too? What a load of crapola... they're assuming that no-one actually wants to drive cars.

Drink beer on long journeys. What's not to like?

 

[Saisonator]

Are they working on the riderless motorbike, too? What a load of crapola... they're assuming that no-one actually wants to drive cars.

I doubt 'want' will factor into it as much as you would hope.

 

[BeerCat]

And one day you will get into a driverless car and tell it where you want to go and its going to say your not allowed.

 

[Gunge]

Drink beer on long journeys. What's not to like?

I can't stand music in the car, never mind beer.

 

[Dmet]

Great if you live in towns and cities but rural areas won't have the same support from driverless cars. If you live 5 miles from the nearest shop then unless you rely on driverless deliveries, there will not be a car coming out to take you shopping. You only have to look at broadband coverage in rural communities to see that it is not financially viable to service the whole country in this manner.

And what will all those people who rely on driving as a career do? Work in more PPI call centres?

 

[Gunge]

I doubt 'want' will factor into it as much as you would hope.

I'm afraid you may well be right. One day we'll have machines that do everything for us until we are reduced to nothing more than existential organisms with no purpose. Ye.. the responses to that are boringly predictable.

 

[-Bezza-]

I don't think the option of recreational driving would be taken away. I would imagine the penalties for manual drivers causing crashes on roads to be higher.

Over time it might become like flying. It might be fun to fly a plane but I'm happy for auto pilot doing it for me!

 

[Chippy_Tea]

We all trust autopilot on planes but I wouldn't if it was flying the plane from takeoff to landing with no pilot onboard, there is a lot less to hit up there if something goes wrong so the pilot has more time to take over.

 

[-Bezza-]

We all trust autopilot on planes but I wouldn't if it was flying the plane from takeoff to landing with no pilot onboard, there is a lot less to hit up there if something goes wrong so the pilot has more time to take over.

It's a lot further to fall of course!

I heard from a pilot friend that at the main airports everything is done on auto pilot and the only reason the pilot is on board is to make people think a human is driving.

 

[Chippy_Tea]

I heard from a pilot friend that at the main airports everything is done on auto pilot and the only reason the pilot is on board is to make people think a human is driving.

As long as he is sat there i am happy even if the plane is going its own thing.

 

[Clint]

Surely then if this is the future and care ownership will rapidly decline the car companies will also become fewer.
Driverless cars may sound great and I could see them being useful for people who can't drive,won't drive or are idle. Using them as public transport. ..don't taxis,buses and trains do that? I remember the great idea years ago when they wanted everyone to use public transport blah blah blah. ..no good if there isn't any of if it doesn't run the times you need..plus it was total hypocrisy from a load of government big wigs being driven around in top end gas guzzlers...
Driverless cars...as the man says..crapola!

 

[-Bezza-]

Given the choice between public transport and a car (that didn't get stuck in traffic), I know which I would rather be in. I guess if you assume you can get collected at your door and city centres have the capacity to have everyone coming in in a car (e.g. using the main train stations in london as drop-off hubs, like airport drop-off places, before people get a tube to their destination), mainline trains might be dead.

Of course this is all speculation as to how things might develop.

Perhaps rather than investing in driverless cars, the UK could invest some money in decent signalling equipment on the trains?

 

[Clint]

Sharing...another great idea...unless the persons you share with are always late,messing about on pick up,stink....

 

[Chippy_Tea]

Sharing...another great idea...unless the persons you share with are always late,messing about on pick up,stink....

I couldn't stand car sharing as a confirmed grumpy old bar-steward i don't want to exchange pleasantries in a morning and the same after a days work i also want to fart and pick my nose in i want.

 

[Saisonator]

I couldn't stand car sharing as a confirmed grumpy old bar-steward i don't want to exchange pleasantries in a morning and the same after a days work i also want to fart and pick my nose in i want.

I was thinking of maybe one vehicle with 3 or 4 pods.