Police Say Video Shows Woman Stepped Suddenly in Front of Self-Driving Uber

Post by darkmarmot » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:11 AM UTC

retsibsi wrote: post #73

GhostVII wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was going 3mph over the speed limit, a perfectly reasonable speed that is still probably lower than almost everyone else on the road.

Serious question: how are speed limits enforced (or not) in the USA? From what I read on the internet, it seems like they are 90% unenforced, 10% arbitrarily enforced by cops who choose who they want to pull over from the masses who are routinely speeding. If they are mostly unenforced, how does the system work? Does everyone implicitly add 20% to the posted limit, or do they just go whatever speed feels right to the…

Post by giobox » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:15 AM UTC

sdrothrock wrote: post #107

danso wrote: post #88

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> That's a pretty clear fail. And yet the police were so quick to say that camera footage indicates that Uber was likely not at fault. It was so quick that it makes me inclined to think it's pretty obvious. However, after the SF Chronicle published its exclusive interview with the Tempe's chief of police, the Tempe Police PR person had to issue a statement that, "Tempe Police Department does not determine fault in ve…

> And yet the police were so quick to say that camera footage indicates that Uber was likely not at fault. I was surprised at that -- it doesn't seem to me that the police would have the technical knowledge of Uber's hardware and algorithms to categorically state that, let alone so quickly.

Post by to3m » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:19 AM UTC

grzm wrote: post #164

to3m wrote: post #162

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"ped"?

pedestrian

Post by bbarn » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:20 AM UTC

lolc wrote: post #47

danso wrote: post #44

The NYT just published a graphic that purports to show the location of the vehicle and the victim: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2018/03/20/us/self-drivi... This is the first report I've seen that indicates the Uber AV was in the right lane. Remember that the victim was crossing from left to right, and that all of the visible damage on the AV is on the right-side bumper. It's very hard to imagine a scenario in…

If this was indeed the overall scenario, there are few factors I could think of that would excuse a human driver here: 1. Another car was in the lane left of the fatal car, blocking its view of the pedestrian. 2. The pedestrian fell back after reaching the curb. But it looks like both the artificial and the human driver were asleep.

Post by philwelch » Wed, Mar 21, 2018, 12:23 AM UTC

qplex wrote: post #83

Someone wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

”If the woman suddenly walked in front of the car at the last minute, I don't see how the situation could have been avoided” Likely, but not necessarily. Depending (hugely!) on what actually happened, it might be that the car should have started slowing down before the woman changed course. As an extreme example, if you’re driving at 50 mph and come up behind a kid cycling at the side of the road with a foot separati…

There definitely exists a sort of pre-cognitive human quality to traffic. Sometimes you just slow down on a subconscious hunch without any information on that particular situation. Or you might be very conscious not to slow down if you're driving a motorcycle in Asia in heavy traffic trying to make a turn with a huge truck barreling behind you. There are massive differences in road cultures between countries, and it…