Self-driving Uber car kills Arizona woman crossing street

[webfact]

Self-driving Uber car kills Arizona woman crossing street

By Sydney Maki and Alexandria Sage

 

Burned out flares lie at the location where a woman pedestrian was struck and killed by an Uber self-driving sport utility vehicle in Tempe, Arizona, U.S., March 19, 2018. REUTERS/Rick Scuteri

 

TEMPE, Ariz./SAN FRANCISCO (Reuters) - An Uber self-driving car hit and killed a woman crossing the street in Arizona, police said on Monday, marking the first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle and a potential blow to the technology expected to transform transportation.

 

The ride services company said it was suspending North American tests of its self-driving vehicles, which are currently going on in Arizona, Pittsburgh and Toronto.

 

So-called robot cars, when fully developed by companies including Uber, Alphabet Inc <GOOGL.O> and General Motors Co <GM.N>, are expected to drastically cut down on motor vehicle fatalities and create billion-dollar businesses. But Monday's accident underscored the possible challenges ahead for the promising technology as the cars confront real-world situations involving real people.

 

U.S. lawmakers have been debating legislation that would speed introduction of self-driving cars.

 

"This tragic accident underscores why we need to be exceptionally cautious when testing and deploying autonomous vehicle technologies on public roads," said Democratic Senator Edward Markey, a member of the transportation committee, in a statement.

 

Elaine Herzberg, 49, was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a four-lane road in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe about 10 p.m. MST Sunday (0400 GMT Monday) when she was struck by the Uber vehicle travelling at about 40 miles per hour (65 km per hour), police said. The car was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel.

 

Herzberg later died from her injuries in a hospital, police said.

 

"The pedestrian was outside of the crosswalk. As soon as she walked into the lane of traffic she was struck," Tempe Police Sergeant Ronald Elcock told reporters at a news conference. He said he did not yet know how close Herzberg was to the vehicle when she stepped into the lane.

 

Elcock said he believed Herzberg may have been homeless.

 

Volvo, the Swedish car brand owned by China's Geely, confirmed its XC90 SUV was involved in the crash but said the software controlling the car was not its own.

 

U.S. federal safety regulators were sending teams to investigate the crash. Canada's transportation ministry in Ontario, where Uber conducts testing, also said it was reviewing the accident.

 

WILD WEST

 

Uber and Waymo on Friday urged Congress to pass sweeping legislation to speed the introduction of self-driving cars into the United States.

 

Some congressional Democrats have blocked the legislation over safety concerns, and Monday's fatality could hamper passage of the bill, congressional aides said Monday.

 

Safety advocates called for a national moratorium on all robot car testing on public roads.

 

"Arizona has been the wild west of robot car testing with virtually no regulations in place," said Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, in a statement. "That's why Uber and Waymo test there. When there's no sheriff in town, people get killed."

 

Arizona has opened its arms to companies testing self-driving vehicles as a means to economic growth and jobs. Republican Governor Doug Ducey reached out to Uber in 2016 after California regulators cracked down on the company over its failure to obtain testing permits.

 

Self-driving cars being tested routinely get into fender-benders with other vehicles. Last week, a self-driving Uber crashed with another vehicle in Pittsburgh, local news reported. There were no injuries.

 

A year ago, Uber temporarily grounded its self-driving cars for a few days following a crash with another car in Tempe. The company has been the subject of a number of complaints about its autonomous vehicles, but the company has said the cars were being driven by a human driver at the time of the incidents.

 

ESSENTIAL TO UBER'S SUCCESS

 

Uber has said its ability to build autonomous cars is essential to its success in the rapidly changing transportation industry. The company envisions a network of autonomous cars that would be summoned through the Uber app that would supplement - and eventually replace - human-driven cars.

 

Uber has logged 2 million self-driving miles (3.2 million km) through December. The company has more than 100 autonomous cars testing on the roads of the greater Phoenix area, the company's prime testing ground due to the state's loose regulations and hospitable weather. Rain, snow and ice are particularly challenging for autonomous cars. The company also tests in Pittsburgh and Toronto.

 

Concerns over the safety of autonomous vehicles flared after a July 2016 fatality involving a Tesla Inc <TSLA.O> automobile with a partially autonomous system that required human supervision. Safety regulators later determined Tesla was not at fault.

 

Uber has weathered a series of crises, including sexual harassment claims, using a tracking tool to avoid government officials, and a lawsuit brought by competitor Waymo alleging theft of self-driving trade secrets. Uber settled that lawsuit last month for $245 million.

 

That settlement was largely seen as a means for Uber to resume work on autonomous cars without the distraction of litigation, as it hustles to catch up with Waymo, widely seen as having the most advanced cars in the industry.

 

(Reporting by Sydney Maki and Alexandria Sage; Additional reporting by Dave Shepardson in Washington, Tina Bellon in New York, Heather Somerville in San Francisco, David Schwartz and Andres Guerra Luz in Phoenix, and Allison Lampert in Montreal; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and Lisa Shumaker)

 

-- © Copyright Reuters 2018-03-20

[Scott]

Tempe, in the metro-Phoenix area, is not a very safe place for pedestrians.   Arizona has a fairly high accident rate, with someone killed on the roads every 9 hours.   It is one of the most dangerous places for pedestrians being killed.  

 

The roads are good, but the speed limits are fairly high in the city and people not using a crosswalk are at a distinct disadvantage of fast moving traffic.  

 

According to the reports, the lady was a homeless person.

[car720]

33 minutes ago, Scott said:

Tempe, in the metro-Phoenix area, is not a very safe place for pedestrians.   Arizona has a fairly high accident rate, with someone killed on the roads every 9 hours.   It is one of the most dangerous places for pedestrians being killed.  

 

The roads are good, but the speed limits are fairly high in the city and people not using a crosswalk are at a distinct disadvantage of fast moving traffic.  

 

According to the reports, the lady was a homeless person.

So can I coin a new buzz word?

UBERHOON.  

 

For the non-Australians here, a hoon is a kind of brainless street racer.

[Scott]

Just now, car720 said:

So can I coin a new buzz word?

UBERHOON.  

 

For the non-Australians here, a hoon is a kind of brainless street racer.

It's probably not a good idea to make light of a situation in which someone died, at least not yet.  

 

I think the problem with driverless vehicles is that we have a sort of expectation of someone stopping for a pedestrian.   There was an operator in the car.   

[car720]

2 minutes ago, Scott said:

It's probably not a good idea to make light of a situation in which someone died, at least not yet.  

 

I think the problem with driverless vehicles is that we have a sort of expectation of someone stopping for a pedestrian.   There was an operator in the car.   

Apologies.  It was never my intention to speak ill of the dead.  Only of the moronic concept.

[mercman24]

sounds like the poor lady was on the highway, fair game for this stupid driver less vehicle,

[PJPom]

The subject of self driving cars has raised many questions way beyond my ability to answer however just a few points.

Who is to blame if the car runs over a pedestrian as that is going to cause the least harm to the occupants as the alternatives are a solid wall and an oncoming vehicle. The car has done exactly what it is supposed to do, save the occupants but the pedestrian is dead.

The Lawyers will have a field day with this, the Lawmakers will have to be very careful and no manufacturer will be safe. The legal liability will impact the cost of the cars and might possibly remove private ownership so we all need to take a taxi, Uber is a major player , this is a long term view but who knows.

We may be opening a bag of worms here, warnings are always made about the rise of AI , could this be another outlandish prediction coming true?

[Scott]

I suspect that it is the operator who will ultimately be held responsible.   That person was in a position to stop the car.  

 

It's pretty early on to know what, if any evasive action, the car or operator took.  

 

 

[halloween]

Self-driving vehicles is a great idea. All those now employed as drivers can retrain as IT workers and call-centre operators. The good news for those unequipped to handle those jobs is that CentreLink will be needing a lot more staff.

[AJBangkok]

I cannot even begin to imagine the chaos that would occur if you mixed a fleet of self driving cars programmed to follow the road rules in with normal Bangkok traffic. ( or anywhere in Thailand traffic ) 

[punchjudy]

this is who the uber car knocked out

 

https://arrestfacts.com/Elaine-Herzberg-1s4=6

[PJPom]

Read below

Edited March 20, 2018 by PJPom
Stuff up

[PJPom]

3 minutes ago, punchjudy said:

this is who the uber car knocked out

 

https://arrestfacts.com/Elaine-Herzberg-1s4=6

 

Just now, PJPom said:

What has this to do with anything, victim blaming???

 

[punchjudy]

9 minutes ago, PJPom said:

What has this to do with anything, victim blaming???

 

Not at all.......it's very possible she was intoxicated and ran in front of the uber car

Edited March 20, 2018 by punchjudy
..

[thaimelody]

2 hours ago, Scott said:

According to the reports, the lady was a homeless person.

Why is this relevant to the story?

[punchjudy]

1 minute ago, thaimelody said:

Why is this relevant to the story?

 

drugs + mental health issues = poor decision making when crossing the road

[smedly]

1 hour ago, Scott said:

It's probably not a good idea to make light of a situation in which someone died, at least not yet.  

 

I think the problem with driverless vehicles is that we have a sort of expectation of someone stopping for a pedestrian.   There was an operator in the car.   

no, we expect them to have zero accidents which is unrealistic,  there are no details about what actually happened here but if someone wants to step in front of a moving vehicle then it doesn't really matter what or who is driving - it is still a risky and stupid thing to do 

[thaimelody]

1 minute ago, punchjudy said:

drugs + mental health issues = poor decision making when crossing the road

Ahh, now I understand all homeless are high and suffer from poor mental health. 

[punchjudy]

5 minutes ago, thaimelody said:

Ahh, now I understand all homeless are high and suffer from poor mental health. 

 

 it's a very high % that do

[MaxYakov]

1 hour ago, mercman24 said:

sounds like the poor lady was on the highway, fair game for this stupid driver less vehicle,

Maybe. Or maybe she was in an oblivious state of mind (lack of situational awareness) put herself in front of a moving vehicle that could have not stopped in time even if she had been seen. The light-controlled, pedestrian crosswalk on Rachadamri near the northwest corner of Lumpini park comes to mind. Nobody (who wants to live) steps out onto the road until the traffic has been visually confirmed to have stopped. I've watched motorbikes blow through their red light at high speed at a high risk to pedestrians having the green light.

[mtls2005]

The Liquor Industry (groups representing wholesalers and producers) is a big proponent of self-driving cars.

 

Given that ~ 28 people die each day in alcohol-related crashes, self-driving cars, (and alcohol delivery vehicles), might be an improvement?

 

https://www.cdc.gov/motorvehiclesafety/impaired_driving/impaired-drv_factsheet.html

 

 

 

 

[thaimelody]

13 minutes ago, punchjudy said:

 it's a very high % that do

Statistics - the art of quoting figures to draw stereotypes. Was the dead woman high?

Edited March 20, 2018 by thaimelody
spelling

[Stargeezr]

Yup the self drving cars and trucks are safe, just no pedestrians are safe. This womans death

proves that driverless vehicles are no more safe than vehicles with texting drivers.

Geezer

[Jonmarleesco]

4 hours ago, webfact said:

'The car was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel.'

 

'Volvo, the Swedish car brand owned by China's Geely, confirmed its XC90 SUV was involved in the crash but said the software controlling the car was not its own.'

 

'Uber and Waymo on Friday urged Congress to pass sweeping legislation to speed the introduction of self-driving cars into the United States.'

 

An operator? Fat lot of use he/she was, then.

 

China's Volvo is passing the buck.

 

And I'll bet they're pushing for legislation. Looks as though they'll have to wait. 

[punchjudy]

7 minutes ago, thaimelody said:

Statistics - the art of quoting figures to draw stereotypes. Was the dead woman high?

https://arrestfacts.com/Elaine-Herzberg-1s4=6

[HLover]

She was not in a crosswalk, blame the car.

Relatives magically to appear over the next few days to present lawsuits to Uber.

'She was a wonderful mother, ect ect'

'Merica!

[DefaultName]

1 minute ago, Jonmarleesco said:

An operator? Fat lot of use he/she was, then.

 

China's Volvo is passing the buck.

 

And I'll bet they're pushing for legislation. Looks as though they'll have to wait. 

I don't actually understand the concept of an operator in a self-driving car.

OK, they're supposed to take over in an emergency, but think about it;

Sitting there, bored, looking out the window or whatever.

Emergency.

Recognise the need to take over.

Move hands & feet to controls (I'm presuming this would automatically turn the AI off).

Decide what action to take (OK, probably instinctive for an experienced driver).

Take action.

And all in that fraction of a second needed to avoid an accident.

 

I don't think so.  People just don't switch "modes" that fast.

[owl sees all]

28 minutes ago, Stargrazer9889 said:

Yup the self drving cars and trucks are safe, just no pedestrians are safe. This womans death

proves that driverless vehicles are no more safe than vehicles with texting drivers.

Geezer

It could be that this lady might have been knocked over by a regular vehicle. Too early to say.

 

Driverless vehicles are the future. Just like driverless trains and busses.

[CGW]

The whole Uber story & the push for driver less vehicles makes no sense for the vast majority of people, so why is it being pushed on us? don't tell me it is for our safety! governments and mega corporations don't do anything that helps people, there only concern is making money or in the case of government, control!

[mtls2005]

21 minutes ago, CGW said:

The whole Uber story & the push for driver less vehicles makes no sense for the vast majority of people, so why is it being pushed on us? don't tell me it is for our safety! governments and mega corporations don't do anything that helps people, there only concern is making money or in the case of government, control!

 

You're right. Now put that mind-control hat back on.

 

Can we go back to using coal - I'm waiting for Elon Musk to invent the coal car. How about just using horses again? Get rid of these vaccines. No more electricity.