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> According to Waymo, the company’s vehicle fully stopped at a four-way intersection before proceeding into the intersection as a large truck was driving throug
by artninja1988 3y ago
> According to Waymo, the company’s vehicle fully stopped at a four-way intersection before proceeding into the intersection as a large truck was driving through in the opposite direction. “The cyclist was occluded by the truck and quickly followed behind it, crossing into the Waymo vehicle’s path,” the company said in a statement. “When they became fully visible, our vehicle applied heavy braking but was not able to avoid the collision.”
Sounds like it should have wainted for the truck to fully pass then or am I not understanding the situation correctly? Would love it if they released the footage of the accident though
- tessierashpool 3y agovery surprising that Waymo would describe the accident in terms that blame the other party
- huytersd 3y agoWhy? If you don’t follow the rules of the road the cyclist is to blame. Now what Waymo needs to do to avoid this in the future is a whole other discussion…
- fastball 3y agoWaymo needs to do nothing to avoid this in the future if their vehicle was following the rules of the road and the cyclist did not.
- bagels 3y agoYou don't think that they should try to avoid avoidable collisions?
- fastball 3y agoEvery collision is avoidable if you drive the car at 5mph at all times. But that wouldn't be reasonable. If the Waymo description of the incident is accurate, there would be no way to really avoid this accident without significantly nerfing the normal and expected driving behavior of this vehicle. e.g., you would need to not allow a Waymo vehicle to enter the intersection when there is any other vehicle in it as well, which (in my opinion) would not be reasonable at all. If it drives better than a human (in this case it sounds like it probably did), that's good enough for me.
- FireBeyond 3y agoYou may want to look into the concept of the "Failure to Avoid" or "Failure to Reduce Speed" citation. These encapsulate scenarios where it there was reasonable opportunity to avoid or stop before causing a collision. You don't just get to careen into a collision because someone else is not following the rules of the road, hoping for a payday.
- fastball 3y agoOk, but neither of those things apply in this case. Obviously Waymo vehicles should be slowing down to try to avoid a collision / reduce the severity. But in this case it sounds like the "fix" would be fundamentally changing the cars behavior to be far too conservative.
- deepfriedchokes 3y agoSounds like the cyclist didn’t stop at the intersection or follow the rules of right of way.
- pclmulqdq 3y agoI am usually one to bash cyclists for not following the rules, but I believe it's actually legal for them to do this at stop signs. They only have to slow down and check for crossing traffic before going through.
- Aloisius 3y agoCalifornia requires bicyclists to come to a full stop at stop signs. There's no stop-as-yield here. Even in places that do, they still require bicyclists to yield right-of-way to any vehicle stopped at the intersection before they arrived.
- csa 3y ago> They only have to slow down and check for crossing traffic before going through. As another poster said, this is not true, but more importantly… Some cyclists treat the “yield at stop sign” concept as “yield to me the cyclist, as I will not slow down unless I have to, and I will be unhappy about that”. I’ve been cursed out, flipped off, and given the evil eye when I pulled out from a stop sign and a cyclist that was far up the road when I looked had to hard brake because they weren’t even slowing down. I’m all for cyclists rights. I was a bicycle messenger one summer, and my replacement was killed in an accident. Being a cyclist can be dangerous and scary, but some cyclists just act like entitled shitheads. Besides being a problem for all folks on the road, they also give cyclists a bad rep.
- kevingadd 3y agoIt is pretty common to see people go from the opposite side of a stop sign since it's "safe", even if it happens to be against the rules. I can understand how the Waymo AI would end up being configured to do this. Hopefully they amend that based on this incident.
- tobyjsullivan 3y agoI don’t know about California but that’s legal where I live. Vehicles on opposite sides of a 4-way stop can enter simultaneously if both are going straight.
- readthenotes1 3y agoThe way Mo was turning
- jonas21 3y agoFrom my reading of the statement, the truck and Waymo vehicle were both going straight, in opposite directions. The cyclist was traveling on the cross-street and entered the intersection directly behind the truck and into the path of the Waymo vehicle.
- ghaff 3y agoI'm pretty distrusting of where people will use turn signals in general.
- tzs 3y ago> It is pretty common to see people go from the opposite side of a stop sign since it's "safe", even if it happens to be against the rules. Where is it against the rules?
- readthenotes1 3y agoIs it not against the rules to drive into an area that you do not have proper visibility?