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by lnsru 3008 days ago
It’s natural to hit the brakes. Sometimes that can kill you. Like driving on the highway during the rain and trying avoid fox or dog.

This failure mode (pedestrian jumping in front of the car) is quite often. I drive 10k miles early and encounter this at least once yearly. Last time it was an elder gentleman who felt off his bicycle on the street from pavement. Time before it was a boy with scooter. It happens often and the scenario is easy to test in closed area.
1 comments
TheGrumpyBrit 3008 days ago
I don't buy the "jumping in front of the car" part. Pedestrians pushing bicycles laden with bags are not known for being especially nimble. Crossing without looking, sure, but assuming the pedestrian was crossing the road, she'd be standing about where the bicycle seat is. That gives half a bike's worth of space before she's actually in front of the car - let's say a quarter of a second if she's going particularly quickly.

I'll forgive a human driver for not noticing a pedestrian and reacting in a quarter of a second. But all the marketing videos have trained us to hold an autonomous car to a higher standard. Certainly a lack of lighting isn't an excuse. The car should have known she was there, identified her as a potential hazard, and been prepared to take appropriate action should her course change. Speeding, along with the fact that the car made no attempt to stop before the collision, is a "back to the drawing board" level of failure.

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zlynx 3008 days ago
Who just walks out in front of headlights on a dark street at night? Who DOES THAT?

This appears to me to be a suicide.

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TheGrumpyBrit 3008 days ago
Suicidal people wouldn't typically try to take their bicycle and their shopping with them. But honestly, the reason she was there isn't really important. The reason the Uber couldn't avoid her is a far more important question in terms of where we go from here. It should have detected her as a potential hazard. It should have been prepared to stop. It shouldn't have been exceeding the speed limit.

A good driver will look back at what they did after an accident to see if they could have done anything to prevent it, even if they weren't at fault. Uber need to do exactly the same thing. Fortunately, unlike a human driver, they have significantly more data than an adrenaline-fuelled mind and some grainy dashcam footage to work with.

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