First driverless car pedestrian death

Pedestrian walking outside the crosswalk. Might not even be the fault of the autonomous technology or driver. If the pedestrian stepped out from between two vehicles or other visual obstructions, there may not have been any way of avoiding the accident. This one might fall on the pedestrian.
 
A rare scenario, but...

When an impact is inevitable and the choice is between hitting one pedestrian or a group of three pedestrians, the computer goes for the solo dude. Easy decision in the world of zeros and ones, and the right thing to do but...wow. How clinical.
 
Skynet is self aware lol
 
I currently see far more errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. than before spelling-checker software was introduced. I'll believe in the feasibility of artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and self-piloted aircraft when that statement is no longer true.
 
When aircraft are fully autonomous and have pilots monitoring them, how long will the monitoring go on? They must have stats that will say how many major failures to expect in x hours of flight. I have to wonder if they will need monitoring pilots for many years before such a thing is every approved 'solo'.
 
Let'sgoflying! said:
When aircraft are fully autonomous and have pilots monitoring them, how long will the monitoring go on? They must have stats that will say how many major failures to expect in x hours of flight. I have to wonder if they will need monitoring pilots for many years before such a thing is every approved 'solo'.
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Until they convince passengers to get on board.
 
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We hope you enjoyed the ride!
 
Matthew said:
It broke the first law of robotics.
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That makes me wonder if the third law is programmed into Uber’s self-driving car. Given a choice between hitting a human and hitting a tree, would it choose the tree?

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm. A robot must obey orders given it by human beings except where such orders would conflict with the First Law. A robot must protect its own existence as long as such protection does not conflict with the First or Second Law.
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RJM62 said:
NTSB is investigating. That ought to hold back development for a few years...

http://money.cnn.com/2018/03/19/technology/uber-autonomous-car-fatal-crash/index.html

Rich
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Until this, I was unaware that their portfolio of responsibility included automobile-traffic deaths. Sure enough, it does, if the accident is “significant.”

From their website:

The National Transportation Safety Board is an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating every civil aviation accident in the United States and significant accidents in other modes of transportation – railroad, highway, marine and pipeline.
 
The road to fully autonomous vehicles is going to be a rocky one.

People can shrug off tens of thousands of fatalities every year caused mostly by driver error. But a single one caused by vehicle or programming error and the same folks get bent out of shape.

Fully autonomous vehicles have the potential over time to decrease traffic fatalities by an order of magnitude. But first we have to rid ourselves of the illusion that those vehicles will be perfect. They won’t be, and we will have to get used to that fact.
 
FastEddieB said:
The road to fully autonomous vehicles is going to be a rocky one.

People can shrug off tens of thousands of fatalities every year caused mostly by driver error. But a single one caused by vehicle or programming error and the same folks get bent out of shape.

Fully autonomous vehicles have the potential over time to decrease traffic fatalities by an order of magnitude. But first we have to rid ourselves of the illusion that those vehicles will be perfect. They won’t be, and we will have to get used to that fact.
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I’m one of those folks who gets bent out of shape over the one.

I also like driving and don’t want autonomous vehicles. Won’t buy one and won’t get on an autonomous plane. Also won’t get on planes by certain manufacturers.
 
Palmpilot said:
I currently see far more errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. than before spelling-checker software was introduced. I'll believe in the feasibility of artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and self-piloted aircraft when that statement is no longer true.
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How similar are the certification requirements for flight critical software and spelling-checkers?

Nauga,
who can barely type
 
Sounds like Uber doesn't appear to be at fault, as mentioned above: "From viewing the videos, “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway,” Moir (Police Chief) said."

I'll personally take statistics over emotion, so if removing myself from the driver's seat will make driving safer, I'm game.
 
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Part of the reason computer drivers will do better is that the standards are so low or nonexistent for human drivers. It’s not like driving around the block once on a nice day and using your turn signals twenty years ago, was ever an adequate test of driving ability.
 
denverpilot said:
Part of the reason computer drivers will do better is that the standards are so low or nonexistent for human drivers. It’s not like driving around the block once on a nice day and using your turn signals twenty years ago, was ever an adequate test of driving ability.
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Some states are trying to raise the standards.

For example, Kimberly had to get a physical to get her learner's permit. She also was given a log book into which her supervising practice drivers have to log the amount of time driven each trip, the time of day, the weather, and whether it was city or highway driving. The learner has to complete a certain number of hours total, in various weather conditions, on highways and in cities, and at various times of day, before they're allowed to take their road test. That's in Pennsylvania. One of my nieces is taking Driver's Ed in New York, and apparently they have similar requirements.

Overall, though, the standards are still lax. I have a friend who lived in Germany for a while who said most licensed drivers in the U.S. would dismally fail Germany's driving test, especially the written, which tests for knowledge about things like the car's mechanical systems and the physics of motion.

For my part, I still trust myself more than a machine. I spent too much of my life watching machines misbehave in all manner of sometimes-spectacular ways to trust them with life and death. I consider them a lot like mistresses: fun, but not to be trusted.

Rich
 
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RJM62 said:
I have a friend who lived in Germany for a while who said most licensed drivers in the U.S. would dismally fail Germany's driving test, especially the written, which tests for knowledge about things like the car's mechanical systems and the physics of motion.
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Haha, that’s Germany.

You should see what it takes to get a fishing license in Germany. A friend undertook that project. It involves a written test. My friend had an impressive study book that reminded me of a Gleim book for an FAA knowledge test. Anatomy, law, and other stuff that defies the idea that fishing should be easy, fun, and cheap. And it’s all kind of pointless because, after you pass the exam, there aren’t many public fishing spots where the fishing license can be put to use.
 
FastEddieB said:
The road to fully autonomous vehicles is going to be a rocky one.

People can shrug off tens of thousands of fatalities every year caused mostly by driver error. But a single one caused by vehicle or programming error and the same folks get bent out of shape.

Fully autonomous vehicles have the potential over time to decrease traffic fatalities by an order of magnitude. But first we have to rid ourselves of the illusion that those vehicles will be perfect. They won’t be, and we will have to get used to that fact.
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You presume decreasing fatalities by an order of magnitude is a good thing, something universally desirable. Concur, I don't expect self driving vehicles to be perfect, but I also don't seek perfection in self determination by humans, either.
 
How are the traffic laws allowing this? I heard a "safety driver" was behind the wheel. Maybe texting, maybe properly monitoring.
 
I think I was born at the right time (1963). I'm a car nut to the core and have autocrossed and raced for more than 25 years. Got to drive a Formula Atlantic around Buttonwillow for a 20-lap test, did a GT3 Cup school at Barber Motorsports Park, even drove a rhd Miata in a short race at the Tsukuba track in Japan. (The more interesting story is how I bluffed my way into getting a temp FIA competition license for the event! :))

But...30 years from now when I'm old and feeble, I will wholeheartedly welcome...even embrace...an autonomous car that can take me to the grocery store, bingo parlor, doctor's office, and off to visit friends and relatives. Heck, even to the airport to jawbone with all the other guys who've lost their medicals, and just watch planes take off and land. The autonomous technology will be pretty advanced by that time. Mobility and independence, baby!

Until then, I want to be in full control of a proper rear-drive, manual transmission performance coupe/sports car with a genuine suck-squeeze-bang-blow, dinosaur-juice engine that makes glorious sounds.
 
Palmpilot said:
I currently see far more errors in spelling, grammar, punctuation, etc. than before spelling-checker software was introduced. I'll believe in the feasibility of artificial intelligence, self-driving cars, and self-piloted aircraft when that statement is no longer true.
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A more relevant comparison might be with the increasing levels of automation on the flight deck, and the accident rate. That gives the opposite message to the rather less important comparison that you mention.
 
nauga said:
How similar are the certification requirements for flight critical software and spelling-checkers?

Nauga,
who can barely type
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How is that relevant? Certifying something as safe is not necessarily the same thing as causing it to BE safe.

The point of my post is that maybe we should wait for AI to prove itself in non safety-critical applications before we trust people's lives to it.
 
Katamarino said:
A more relevant comparison might be with the increasing levels of automation on the flight deck, and the accident rate. That gives the opposite message to the rather less important comparison that you mention.
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Aren't humans still required to make the go/no-go decisions in airline service?

I'm not saying that spelling, etc. is comparable in importance to transportation safety. I do think that it illustrates the fact that tasks that require intelligence are difficult to successfully turn over to automation.
 
Palmpilot said:
Aren't humans still required to make the go/no-go decisions in airline service?

I'm not saying that spelling, etc. is comparable in importance to transportation safety. I do think that it illustrates the fact that tasks that require intelligence are difficult to successfully turn over to automation.
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https://www.bloomberg.com/view/articles/2018-02-02/what-if-self-driving-cars-can-t-see-stop-signs

"Indistinguishable changes to a stop sign could make computers in a self-driving car read it as “speed limit 80.”"
 
SoCal RV Flyer said:
But...30 years from now when I'm old and feeble, I will wholeheartedly welcome...even embrace...an autonomous car that can take me...
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... places when I’m dead.

Hahaha.

I’ve been saying for a while now that I want my ashes stuck in a future self driving car and sent to go see all the stuff I missed while I was alive. Leave enough money it can just keep driving around for years.

Better yet, if some of y’all would get in on this, we’ll have the software developed so the cars do cool formation driving tricks as they’re all headed places.

If they make it to autonomous airplanes or quad copters or something, we just just buzz around in formation and our executors of our estates can call fuel places along the way and pre-pay for fuel and maintenance.

:) :) :)
 
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