Uber stops all self-driving car tests after fatal accident

Uber is putting all of its self-driving vehicle tests on hold after one of its cars struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona Sunday evening. According to ABC affiliate KNXV, the car had a human operator behind the wheel but was in autonomous mode. A woman walking on a crosswalk was struck by the car and she later died in the hospital due to the injuries she sustained. Uber says that it is working with the the local authorities.

While this isn't the first fatal accident involving a self-driving vehicle, it does appear to be the first resulting in the death of a pedestrian. "Our hearts go out to the victim's family," Uber tweeted today.

Uber stops all self-driving car tests after fatal accident

Well, many worried of something like this happening with self driving cars. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. This should at least slow the progress for self driving cars becoming a normal thing.

God forbid they be on our roads across the country and get hacked causing a lot more damage.

a reply to: CriticalStinker


I agree, they need to do a lot more testing, and how about test on some UBER executives or their families walking on a crosswalk!

a reply to: CriticalStinker

And there was no option for the person in the car to...like...hit the f*&%in breaks???

I dare say that that person was at the least negligent or if there indeed was no option to take over control the company should be found negligent and get wrecked in court. This is beyond absurd...

1st to die from A.I.?

originally posted by: CriticalStinker

Uber is putting all of its self-driving vehicle tests on hold after one of its cars struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona Sunday evening. According to ABC affiliate KNXV, the car had a human operator behind the wheel but was in autonomous mode.A woman walking on a crosswalk was struckby the car and she later died in the hospital due to the injuries she sustained. Uber says that it is working with the the local authorities.

While this isn't the first fatal accident involving a self-driving vehicle, it does appear to be the first resulting in the death of a pedestrian. "Our hearts go out to the victim's family," Uber tweeted today.

Uber stops all self-driving car tests after fatal accident

Well, many worried of something like this happening with self driving cars. Maybe this will be a blessing in disguise. This should at least slow the progress for self driving cars becoming a normal thing.

God forbid they be on our roads across the country and get hacked causing a lot more damage.

www.nytimes.com...
"who was crossing the street outside of a crosswalk"


Just an interesting disagreement I noticed between the two sources.

If I had to guess, the "safety driver" wasn't paying any attention. Can you imagine that job? Sitting there in four thousand pounds of glass and steel driving itself around?
I wonder who is responsible in that case.

I've always wondered how the software for self-driving cars would address random construction sites that pop up with workers in the road or detours. It seems if it cannot detect a pedestrian, they have a very long and expensive road ahead of them. Just my 2 cents.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Good catch, I might have guessed Uber would try to faze out its human drivers for A.I ones. I doubt one measly death will slow this trend down much as it seems the bottom line is all about profit, and screw people actually trying to earn a living from driving jobs. IMO new cars are already way over the top as far as the tech goes.

who is at fault, the human in the car, Uber, the car maker, the computer programmer, or no one? How about if the data on the car indicates that the female walked out jay walked in front of the car and there was nothing mathematically that could have been done.

How will who gets in trouble, if anyone, impact future law?

The amount of people are dying as we speak so the big companies can make a lot more money and future humans can be a lot more lazies.

a reply to: SocratesJohnson

When this does roll out there will be a huge shift in insurance. Of course in the end the consumer will pay more to make up for it.

And how many people die per day by car accidents?

I won't ever buy a self driving car. It kind of defeats the purpose of having your own car in the first place. Not to mention I don't trust another person's programming to keep me alive during transit from point a to point b. There isn't even a feature for a manual override in case the self driving feature does experience problems..

Maybe my kids or grand kids will have one when this technology is streamlined and it is proven effective. Not me, never

So did the car choose between 2 objects or just somebody walked out from in-between cars. Lots more information to follow. City self driving semis ought to be good for suicidal people wanting a gift for their families

originally posted by: RomeByFire
And how many people die per day by car accidents?

I'm aware, but at least in that case someone is held accountable.

My concern though as am I stated is them being hacked, can you imagine?

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Well heres a way to squeeze everyone for some more money and reguire every thing on the road have manditory gps

and when that well dries up, they should have these cars ready

a reply to: JAGStorm

Kind of sad how right you were in your other thread...

originally posted by: JAGStorm
The final nail in the coffin will be driverless cars.

originally posted by: Lysergic
1st to die from A.I.?

Next is going to be a disgruntled burger-flipping loserbot.

a reply to: CriticalStinker

Personally, I think self driving cars are an insult to human intelligence. I know there are a lot of idiots on the road but they are a minority and when they screw up, they get punished. I know the punishments are sometimes too light for the offence but that's a different discussion.

How do you punish a robot?

They should be banned outright. Not only for safety concerns but the economic impact

oh dear : once again ATS is making judgements based on insuficient data

it would be quite amusing - if you didnt take yourselves so seriously

but hey - carry on


PS - some RTCs are almost unavoidable , others - you wonder how they conspired to happen

is it too much to ask that you wait till the investigators peliminary findings are published ?