Self-driving Uber car kills pedestrian in Tempe, AZ

Auto-autos might be demonstrated as superior to human drivers, especially in unusual situations, where most trouble happens. 'They' have chosen a subset of possible sensory inputs (and processing) to make their case. Perhaps we will come to learn that this subset is not quite up to snuff in unusual situations.

Banning is simple and making better is expensive. Whose wisdom can wiz all that?

 

Toyota Global Site | Vehicle-infrastructure Cooperative Systems

 

Tesla statement: An Update on Last Week’s Accident | Tesla

Over a year ago, our first iteration of Autopilot was found by the U.S. government to reduce crash rates by as much as 40%. Internal data confirms that recent updates to Autopilot have improved system reliability.

In the US, there is one automotive fatality every 86 million miles across all vehicles from all manufacturers. For Tesla, there is one fatality, including known pedestrian fatalities, every 320 million miles in vehicles equipped with Autopilot hardware. If you are driving a Tesla equipped with Autopilot hardware, you are 3.7 times less likely to be involved in a fatal accident.

Tesla Autopilot does not prevent all accidents – such a standard would be impossible – but it makes them much less likely to occur. It unequivocally makes the world safer for the vehicle occupants, pedestrians and cyclists.

No one knows about the accidents that didn’t happen, only the ones that did. The consequences of the public not using Autopilot, because of an inaccurate belief that it is less safe, would be extremely severe. There are about 1.25 million automotive deaths worldwide. If the current safety level of a Tesla vehicle were to be applied, it would mean about 900,000 lives saved per year. We expect the safety level of autonomous cars to be 10 times safer than non-autonomous cars.
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Bob Wilson

 

From same source:

"In the moments before the collision, which occurred at 9:27 a.m. on Friday, March 23rd, Autopilot was engaged with the adaptive cruise control follow-distance set to minimum. The driver had received several visual and one audible hands-on warning earlier in the drive and the driver’s hands were not detected on the wheel for six seconds prior to the collision. The driver had about five seconds and 150 meters of unobstructed view of the concrete divider with the crushed crash attenuator, but the vehicle logs show that no action was taken."

 

There will always be circumstances where either the AI or human sensors will be best suited. The safest option is to employ both together where they can complement (not compliment!) each other. Unfortunately, there's always somebody prepared to 'chance it' and focus their attention on something irrelevant. Perhaps we need to introduce an annual COMMON SENSE test test before entering a driving licence. Oh, wait a minute! I might lose my licence that way.

 

I don’t entirely disagree, but we also have to remember that every year, in the US alone, over 5000 pedestrians are killed by human-driven cars.

Typed by Mr88cet’s dancing thumbs

 

remember how back in the day, people riding horse thought cars were dangerous? they were right!

 

Or, to put it another way, in that same day, 14 other American pedestrians were killed by human drivers (statistically speaking).

Typed by Mr88cet’s dancing thumbs

 

agreed, but it's not quantity, it's quality.

 

On the other hand, there were vastly more human-driven cars driving that day, and therefore far more *opportunities* for human-driven cars to strike pedestrians.

On the third hand though, this was not just the only autonomous-driven-vehicle/pedestrian fatality that day; it was the first *ever*. I bet that, if we look at auto/pedestrian fatalities per driving hour, autonomous vehicles will be well ahead of human drivers.

On the fourth hand though, we need to hold these systems to a higher bar than human drivers, at least by a factor or 2 or 3, but preferably by a factor of 5-10.

Typed by Mr88cet’s dancing thumbs

 

statistics, ya gotta lovem.

 

Tesla already claims 3.5 with their current version and their goal is a factor of 10.

Bob Wilson

 

the problem i see with tesla's claim is the limited data. not to say it's wrong, but the profile of total tesla drivers may not match the profile of the driving public at large.

 

It was a concern when I analyzed Prius fatal accidents. We had more than a few surveys that classified Prius owners as relatively older, more educated, and well off ("Welcome to Lake Wobegon, where all the women are strong, all the men are good-looking, and all the children are above average.")

Bob Wilson

 

as i said in another post, if you take all the drunk, drugged, inexperienced, elderly and dangerous drivers off the road, what would statistics then show.

however, i agree that putting them in self driving cars is a good idea.

 

What about sirens of fire trucks and meat wagons! It's very important that those be "heard", since there are times when they aren't seen til the last minute. I've often heard them well before I saw them, especially at intersections. You're blocked in by all these super large Jumbo Wagons and you can't see the siren maker, but you can hear him, so you can pull over, if possible.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
AChoiredTaste.com

 

I prefer a "taxi"; it's a lot less commitment.
I have seen shoppers at Ralphs being dropped off by taxi and being picked up by taxi after their shopping is done.

Posted via the PriusChat mobile app.
AChoiredTaste.com

 

When Autopilot is used as Tesla intends it — as a *driver assistance* platform, meaning that the driver is aware, engaged and *still driving the car*, and perhaps most importantly, using it under the specified driving conditions (highway driving) — I bet that number is even higher, perhaps even 5. The “killer” (more figuratively than literally, although literally to a much lesser degree) is people using it outside of those parameters.

Typed by Mr88cet’s dancing thumbs

 

and how do you stop them?

 

Revenge of the humans!

"In San Francisco, a motorcycle cop pulled over an autonomous vehicle and issued it a ticket. The future has arrived."

"But the reason — police said it failed to yield to a pedestrian at a crosswalk — probably shouldn't be taken lightly, coming a day after a self-driving car operated by Uber Technologies Inc. struck and killed a woman walking her bicycle across the road March 18 in Tempe, Ariz"

"Cruise tells the station that its onboard data shows the pedestrian was 10.8 feet away from the car when it began driving in autonomous mode down Harrison Street at 14th Street. The officer pulled the car over shortly after it began accelerating and ticketed the human test driver."

Autonomous car ticketed by motorcycle cop in San Francisco - Autoblog