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I can't be alone in thinking that the woman walking the bicycle didn't seem to be in a crosswalk... Like, ok so autonomous driving isn't perfect, and yeah the

I can't be alone in thinking that the woman walking the bicycle didn't seem to be in a crosswalk... Like, ok so autonomous driving isn't perfect, and yeah the backup driver maybe should've been paying attention to the road instead of whatever she was doing. Fine. But I can't be alone in thinking it looks at least partly the woman's own fault. Right? Walking your bike, in the dark, across a road without looking when you don't seem to have right of way is just not a great idea. Plenty of human drivers would've probably hit her too, albeit possibly slower while slamming on the brakes. I don't mean to blame the victim here entirely, obviously I don't think she deserved to die, I just can't help but think that Uber isn't entirely at fault here. Maybe Uber can make a car that's statistically a safer driver than human drivers, but you can't out-engineer the human ability to invent ways to get around rules other humans put in place.

JabavuAdams 9y ago
Sure, but this particular problem seems solvable. A self-driving car can have much better sensors than a human. I.e. maybe we should expect self-driving cars to see in total darkness. That's something we, the public, could decide is a minimum requirement.
scarmig 9y ago
I'm less interested in blame than I am in the engineering whys. Shouldn't LIDAR have seen her, even if I wouldn't blame a human for hitting her in the same situation?
BinaryIdiot 9y ago
The problem is that video is deceptively dark. Video cameras don't pick up nearly the same amount of light as humans eyes do and there are even photos circulating around showing it significantly brighter in this area (to the point where a human could see the entire area really, really easily). Also some areas give pedestrians the right away regardless of where they are. Granted there are plenty of exclusions to that too and this may fall into that but regardless of who is at fault this looks avoidable if a human was driving, IMO. Regardless it's pretty insane that their software didn't pick up this person at all. That's terrifying, IMO. That shows me it's not ready for a driver to be using it and not paying attention like this driver (they kept playing on their phone, looking down and not paying attention). People, deer, lots of crazy things are going to jump out into the road and you need to be able to handle that scenario. This person didn't even jump out, they were already in the road and were likely very visible.
notahacker 9y ago
Uber is a well-funded corporation with a long history of disregard for the law which in order to beat competitors has chosen to conduct real world road tests of many instances of an "autonomous driving" system apparently inferior to heavily intoxicated humans at reacting to unexpected pedestrians in certain conditions. The woman was a homeless person who is now dead. The above may influence people's emphasis on whose actions warrant the most scrutiny.

JabavuAdams 9y ago

Sure, but this particular problem seems solvable. A self-driving car can have much better sensors than a human. I.e. maybe we should expect self-driving cars to see in total darkness. That's something we, the public, could decide is a minimum requirement.

scarmig 9y ago

I'm less interested in blame than I am in the engineering whys. Shouldn't LIDAR have seen her, even if I wouldn't blame a human for hitting her in the same situation?

BinaryIdiot 9y ago

The problem is that video is deceptively dark. Video cameras don't pick up nearly the same amount of light as humans eyes do and there are even photos circulating around showing it significantly brighter in this area (to the point where a human could see the entire area really, really easily). Also some areas give pedestrians the right away regardless of where they are. Granted there are plenty of exclusions to that too and this may fall into that but regardless of who is at fault this looks avoidable if a human was driving, IMO. Regardless it's pretty insane that their software didn't pick up this person at all. That's terrifying, IMO. That shows me it's not ready for a driver to be using it and not paying attention like this driver (they kept playing on their phone, looking down and not paying attention). People, deer, lots of crazy things are going to jump out into the road and you need to be able to handle that scenario. This person didn't even jump out, they were already in the road and were likely very visible.

notahacker 9y ago

Uber is a well-funded corporation with a long history of disregard for the law which in order to beat competitors has chosen to conduct real world road tests of many instances of an "autonomous driving" system apparently inferior to heavily intoxicated humans at reacting to unexpected pedestrians in certain conditions. The woman was a homeless person who is now dead. The above may influence people's emphasis on whose actions warrant the most scrutiny.