Communications of the ACM
ber Robocar Kills Pedestrian, Despite Presence of Safety Driver
Last weekend, a self-driving Uber vehicle reportedly killed a pedestrian in Tempe, AZ.
Credit: Kristoffer Tripplaar/Sipa USA/AP Photo
A self-driving Uber vehicle reportedly killed a pedestrian in Tempe, AZ, last weekend, the first time such a thing has happened. The only other self-driving fatality—in May 2017—involved the driver of a Tesla that crashed into a truck.
Uber has not confirmed that the vehicle, a modified Volvo XC90 SUV, was in self-driving mode. However, the Tempe Police Department said, in a statement, that it "was in autonomous mode at the time of the collision, with a vehicle operator behind the wheel."
The National Transportation Safety Board says it's opening an investigation of the case.
Safety drivers are supposed to intervene when the car engages in inappropriate behavior. At night, one might suppose that the car, equipped as it was with lidar, would have been just as able to detect a pedestrian as if it were high noon. A human driver might have had a harder time of it.
From IEEE Spectrum
View Full Article
No entries found