Tesla driver killed while in autopilot mode

[pritch]

Apparently Youtube is a rich source of people with auto drive cars doing all manner of non-driving related things including sleeping. It's easy to believe that AI can do a better job of driving than many humans though.

It has now been confirmed that a Tesla driver has been killed while in autopilot mode and watching a Harry Potter movie. A truck and trailer unit pulled out in front of him and the car didn't brake.

It would be rash to expect these optimistic lemmings to change their ways so we may yet read of more such incidents. Let's hope we're not involved in any.

https://www.theguardian.com/technolo...y-potter#img-1

[nzspokes]

Harry Potter?

Not surprised the car committed suicide.

[FlangMasterJ]

Behold the Darwinmobile...

[R650R]

I just read that story too, classic Darwinism.... Wonder where the law stands where driverless cars are allowed, is the user expected to still monitor for dangerous situations ahead?
In this case it seems the sensor couldn't differentitate between the white trailer and blue sky that the roadway was obstructed. What is the failsafe if the vehicle loses connection to its vital sensors, does it brake toi a stop in busy roadway????

Years ago for legal studies at school we attended court. A truck driver had forced is way out into traffic from a busy junction. A cyclist with no brakes on her bike went under his trailer and died later from injuries, part of that was due to her religion/culture forbidding blood transfusions. Anyway the judge ruled that such practice was common and expectable at busy times of the day and all he got done for was failing to give way/careless use I think. Poor bugger was visibly upset and remorseful over whole thing.
Road safety is always a two part package though and this tesla incident highlights a major issue of autonomous vehicles....

[50Shades]

Should read; Tesla passenger dies
The insurance industry is going to love this

[Akzle]

I bet if that car company gets sued it will be for a bigger amount than the VW emissions claim con or at least it should be. Maybe the cars need to be sold as a safety backup and not a replacement for a human driver. I did read some months back the the NZ govt was keen to invite manufacturers of such cars to test them in NZ which will be something to be wary of if it goes ahead eg the test cars should have warning lights or sirens so that other traffic can get out of the way if they are around.

... maybe the car was just feeling pressured to keep up

next car i see with lights and sirens i'll do my damndest to keep away from. and tell them you sent me.

[Gremlin]

But it was a very unique set of factors... where the car drove straight into the side of a truck and trailer unit...

Uh...ok

[george formby]

Teething troubles.
And Darwinism.

Apparently the cars try to maintain the "drivers" attention which it seems is easily ignored. When the car went under the truck it was said to be a white truck and trailer with a white sky at twilight, well, change of light. Could have been AM. So it's not using radar. I doubt this tragic accident was unexpected. Time will tell.

The first news worthy casualty of the new electric age?

Development and technology is blazing forward in all sorts of different directions. We are at the beginning of another transport revolution, a progression from the age of steam. I think it's great, but unlike our bright young people, shining the light for the future, it will take me decades to get used to. It will take decades to become usual worldwide, anyway.

[TheDemonLord]

Should read; Tesla passenger dies
The insurance industry is going to love this

And the Lawyers....

Will be interesting to see what happens - either way I feel some important and possibly dangerous legal precedents are about to be set

[nerrrd]

Teething troubles...It will take decades to become usual worldwide, anyway.

You (and I) wish; driverless cars running into teething troubles? How's about driverless buses then!

http://www.radionz.co.nz/news/nation...oing-to-be-big'

So in four years they're going to solve congestion apparently. Admittedly I'm a luddite but how the hell is a driverless bus going to deal with mad Auckland drivers in rush hour?? Get ready for blocked bus lanes while they run a driver out to get the 'crashed' (in IT terms) bus underway again. At least if it really crashes those on board will be safer than the rest of us.

This whole driverless revolution is being so overhyped it's starting to have a whiff of 'dot.com' about it, more troubling is how keen governments are to jump in with both feet, I predict a lot of taxpayer's money being spent for very little return.

[Gremlin]

So in four years they're going to solve congestion apparently. Admittedly I'm a luddite but how the hell is a driverless bus going to deal with mad Auckland drivers in rush hour?? Get ready for blocked bus lanes while they run a driver out to get the 'crashed' (in IT terms) bus underway again.

Don't be silly. Like drone pilots, they'll connect from an office to take manual control. Ever seen a spotty faced 15yo kid drive? Drivers won't be a problem as they'll stay the fuck away from the bus

[nerrrd]

Don't be silly. Like drone pilots, they'll connect from an office to take manual control. Ever seen a spotty faced 15yo kid drive? Drivers won't be a problem as they'll stay the fuck away from the bus

Using a local mobile network, no doubt? alright, and yes I'll be staying well away!

[Duncan74]

Lots of interesting stuff in this, albeit tragic, news story.

First off, the truck turned in front of an oncoming car. The car, maintain speed, hit the side. So the crash was a combination of truck driver error, weather and lighting, driver inattention (car), failure of safety mechanisms (video camera and auto braking.

So whilst this is being reported as the first autonomous fatality (I think) then there's no way of knowing if it would have occurred anyway, or how many fatalities have not occurred by the autonomous vehicles being better than the driver they were carrying.

I was talking to a senior in the Google autonomous cars programme a few years ago and he suggested NZ would be an early adoption/target market for them. He suggested it was due to the 'permissive legislative framework'. I asked if that meant that ACC meant they wouldn't get sued. He smiled. Earlier he'd said that they would look to get cars out on the road not when they were 100% safe, as realistically they needed to be 'in the wild' to learn everything, but when they were better than an average driver. Interestingly more than 50% of human drivers think they are better than average, so no idea how they'll decide that.

But part of the 'in the wild' was teaching the vehicle to recognise not the 99.99% of vehicles look like, but the weird ones. He showed the equivalent of the redbull mini with the giant can on the back, one of the 8 person circular pedal cycle things, and a could more oddball things that the camera and computer needed to process and react to. I get confused sometimes between an approaching car with a blown headlamp and a motorbike, so at what point do we have faith in the machines?

Oh, and as for congestion being solved by autonomous vehicles, that's an entirely separate discussion. There would need to be some significant social changes for this to be the case. A switch to car pooling in place of ownership for a start. Without social change my personal view is that autonomous vehicles would increase congestion, not reduce it.

[wildman]

Shitbox vehicles they should all be crushed. The only thing that could be worse is if they were made by Germans.

[TheDemonLord]

Oh, and as for congestion being solved by autonomous vehicles, that's an entirely separate discussion. There would need to be some significant social changes for this to be the case. A switch to car pooling in place of ownership for a start. Without social change my personal view is that autonomous vehicles would increase congestion, not reduce it.

In theory - Autonomous vehicles could travel both faster and closer together - increasing the throughput for a given piece of road - at the moment the 2 second rule includes a humans thinking distance/reaction time (something like 0.57 seconds) - which a computer could drop to a matter Milliseconds.

But as I say - 'In Theory'