I don't understand why authorities allow self-driving cars to beta test out in public. I thought waymo was the best with something like millions of hours on the road but when they started accepting passengers, it failed to proceed past a traffic cone:<p><a href="https://youtu.be/zdKCQKBvH-A?t=742" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://youtu.be/zdKCQKBvH-A?t=742</a><p>I wouldn't trust any of the others like Tesla and Uber that think self-driving is easy. And Tesla with their cost-saving no LIDAR nonsense.<p>These companies should be fined hefty amounts and barred from testing out in public.
Automated system should intervene in an emergency not the other way around. Humans are bad at babysitting computers.<p>Those who authorised testing this on public roads should also go to jail.
Let's not forget a few more contributing factors to the accident.<p>The road in question is more or less a highway, and a car in the Uber's position would've just come off the bridge, traveling at least 35mph, and have also passed under the very busy freeway above it. It's a bustling interchange, but it was still late on a dark, balmy Sunday night. It's basically not possible to properly illuminate the whole road in this stretch.<p>To the west of the road is a medium-sized, popular concert venue, where alcohol is served at shows. To the east of the road is a small but popular city park, which does not have many amenities, and it would've been closed or close to closing at this time of night.<p>Herzberg was found to be high on crystal meth and marijuana at the time of death. She had a criminal record and had previously been incarcerated for drug-related offenses.<p>Herzberg had improperly laden her bicycle with many shopping bags. It was not a vehicle at this point, but more like an unstable shopping cart. Did it have lights? This is not mentioned in the report.<p>There was a crosswalk available, several yards up the road. The crosswalk at the intersection is well-illuminated, and there is a traffic signal. The Uber vehicle would have been subject to any red light or pedestrian right-of-way at this point.<p>Herzberg was well-committed to crossing the street and it is said she had already crossed two lanes. Perhaps those are the southbound lanes: Mill Avenue is at least 4 lanes wide at the accident site, and there is also a separate right-turn lane at Curry Road.<p>Therefore, Herzberg should have been able to see a well-illuminated Uber vehicle with headlights on, but Herzberg was under the influence, and perhaps also under the impression that a driver would yield or stop upon noticing such a pedestrian.<p>Now the liability in a car vs. pedestrian accident will fall on the vehicle by default, but of course it doesn't hurt us to walk in a crosswalk and obey traffic signals, in order to preserve the innocence and be indemnified against any accusation of negligence, should an accident happen to us.<p>A very tragic situation, and Herzberg's Facebook page is in a memorialized state, for anyone who wishes to get to know her a little bit better, it's all still there for us to see.
> The March 2018 crash, the first case of a pedestrian being killed by a self-driving car in the United States, shocked Uber into pausing testing on automated vehicles<p>Why would this entirely predictable occurrence during a self-driving testing program have shocked Uber?
3 years probation for a set of actions that resulted in a loss of life.<p>I'm always aghast at this, we call things that happen on the road "accidents" as if it's "oops, I killed you, sorry". The language of reporting isn't on the drivers "car killed pedestrian", rather than "driver killed pedestrian".<p>The deaths by vehicles is astonishing, last year in the USA 42,795 people died in road traffic incidents ( <a href="https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/traffic-crash-death-estimates-2022" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nhtsa.gov/press-releases/traffic-crash-death-est...</a> ), in the UK the number is 1,695 ( <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-provisional-results-2022/reported-road-casualties-great-britain-provisional-results-2022" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.gov.uk/government/statistics/reported-road-casua...</a> ).<p>In the USA alone, that's 117 people per day.<p>Virtually no-one who owned the set of decisions that led to those deaths face any consequence of any kind... for ending someone's life.<p>When the article says "Getting behind the wheel of a car is a serious responsibility"... there are no real consequences for the individuals involved for their choices, and choices should have consequences.<p>Driving too fast in rural areas, not paying attention, not keeping your car in good repair, being under the influence... these are all choices, and choices should have consequences.<p>The consequences should be significant enough that they disincentivise that behaviour in everyone else, which means never being able to drive again, jail time, significant and meaningful financial penalties (with a large portion paid to the victims family).<p>3y probation, as an outlier exceptional example of consequences, shows the priority is on vehicle use rather than people's lives.