Uber test fatality

I can't see that - it is much more likely that there will be a switch over day when driving your car will no longer be allowed: the argument will of course be that people cause accidents!

I'm not so sure, a decent driver could've probably done something but I'm sure we all see plenty of distracted ones with glacial reactions.

Here's the story on the BBC, complete with video
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-43497364

I read that the driver has a rather questionable driving record with a number of previous motoring convictions. I’ve seen the footage and agree it’s possibly a bit harsh to put all the blame at the feet of the car, though I can see how it makes for a good headline. It didn’t even look like the car made any attempt to brake and surely the supervising driver would have done, even if it was only in the last moment and still didn’t avoid the collision. The standard Volvo system might have helped but the footage did seem to show it going at reasonable speed and I thought the automatic crash avoidance systems worked at lower speeds. That may explain why it took no evasive action. Feel free to correct me on that Michael - you do actually own a Volvo after all!

"I bet that hasn't been factored into any Civil Servant's thinking on whether this is workable"! Civil servants being allowed to think? When?

My first thought was that the driver was not paying attention to the road.
Admittedly it’s difficult to see the pedestrian, but I’m wondering what the pedestrian was doing crossing the road like that anyway?
The car had its lights on and was clearly visible.

I’m not sure what I think of driverless cars.
They’re everywhere in San Jose (I saw 3 different ones yesterday including a Chinese owned Lincoln, a Lexus RX and a Chrysler). Seeing a car do a u turn across light rail tracks is a bizarre experience, especially when you watch the driver and realise his hands are nowhere near the steering wheel!

5 years, at most. 

In all the discussion I have seen there has been little in the way of blame on the pedestrians/cyclists. Without multiple camera's, how can blame be apportioned?

I had not seen that. It does appear to be entirely the victim's fault, she walked directly in front of it, it was not even remotely far away. This is of course the case in the vast majority of pedestrian deaths.

I don't see this being a blocker for the technology - there are huge numbers of deaths on the roads and most are pure human error. Knowing where other vehicles are and predicting conversion rates and so on is something computers will be very good at. I'm not so sure they will be good at predicting when a hurried-looking pedestrian might jump out, or a child following a ball, or whatever. Not long ago I was driving home from the chippie with my father and law and Lu in the car. Three very young (9 ish) lads were cycling along my right hand side, two in the road (on the wrong side) and one on the pavement. The first two were further ahead and crossed my path, the second was on the pavement behind a row of parked cars, but he darted out in a gap in the parked cars right across my path. I could - just - see him the other side of the cars and predicted he would (like deer do) follow his mates regardless of danger. He lived. A computerised car would not even have seen him the other side of the parked cars. That - and things like threading slowly up a London street where cars are alternately pulling right to the side, and situations with pedestrians everywhere, is the sort of thing I can't see computers replicating in a hurry. It's not their intelligence - more the depth of their learning ability, and the depth of their programming, basically the amount of time and effort humans put into it.

Pot holes are indeed a massive problem, my employer is involved in high def mapping for autonomous driving and this currently is a big issue.

They will get there, but I think people underestimate how much human decision making powers are involved, in city driving especially.

How quiet are these cars? - I remember reading the quietness of an approaching car being a concern about electric cars - easy to say we should look and listen before crossing, but the unfortunate thing about humans is that we suffer from human failings.

We needn't worry: we'll all be working at home and being served food by robots in self-cleaning homes so we humans won't be out on the street to be hit by the self driving cars that are taking us to leisure events or family visits.

That's what I was told the '80s anyway.

From the BBC report of the issue:

"According to the NTSB, Uber's test vehicle failed to correctly identify the bicycle as an imminent collision until just before impact.
By that time, it was too late for the vehicle to avoid the crash.
"The system design did not include a consideration for jaywalking pedestrians," the NTSB said."

The last line of the quote above is somewhat concerning, particularly when it comes to town driving, surely?

Driving in towns I think pedestrians are getting worse and often I see one trying in vain to cross a busy road to get to the shop directly opposite despite there being a pedestrian crossing less than a minutes walk away. And now its getting dark I notice more and more how many wear black clothes and a black coat when doing so. And although I've noticed them its normally only as I'm passing them which wouldn't be much good if they decide to run out. Given that cars are noticeable to the pedestrian by dint of their headlamps, surely there is an argument that the pedestrian should be held accountable for their accident and the blame not just lazily pinned on the poor bugger who hits them?

The issue remains the same. If there was a chance that a fully in control driver might have swerved or braked in time to minimise the impact, then the software or its sensors are defective in that situation. The report clearly can't say this for sure, so appears to be unable to reach a firm conclusion.

I still think that driverless cars will soon make sense in controlled environments - like motorways. But for urban use, unless an awful lot of other variables are removed, the technology is a lot farther away from ready.