# Self Driving Uber strikes and kills pedestrian in Arizona



## wyb (Jul 10, 2008)

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u...in-autonomous-mode-e2-80-99-police/ar-BBKqUPe



> Last night a woman was struck by an autonomous Uber vehicle in Tempe, Arizona. She later died of her injuries in the hospital.
> 
> The deadly collision-reported by ABC15 and later confirmed to Gizmodo by Uber and Tempe police-took place around 10PM at the intersection Mill Avenue and Curry Road. According to Tempe PD, the car was in autonomous mode at the time of the incident.
> 
> ...


uhoh.. this could put the brakes on self-driving cars... :eeps:


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## Z4luvr (Jun 23, 2006)

wyb said:


> https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/u...in-autonomous-mode-e2-80-99-police/ar-BBKqUPe
> 
> uhoh.. this could put the brakes on self-driving cars... :eeps:


It will be interesting to see what the camera footage shows. I would think that these test cars have all sorts of black boxes and video to discern what exactly happened. The biggest problem with autonomous cars is that stupid humans are all around them, doing unexpected things.


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## wyb (Jul 10, 2008)

Z4luvr said:


> It will be interesting to see what the camera footage shows. I would think that these test cars have all sorts of black boxes and video to discern what exactly happened. * The biggest problem with autonomous cars is that stupid humans are all around them, doing unexpected things.*


The reports I'm seeing say she was 'outside a crosswalk' - ie, crossing just anywhere.

I think one semi-good thing has come out of this - it's woken mrs wyb up to some more of these dangers. Colorado being a 'pedestrian right of way state' has all sorts of idiots who walk out in front of you between cars and such, and I've always freaked out when someone I know does this, because I know the next line is: "it's a pedestrian right ways states!" - to which my reply is, "that won't do you any good in the hospitals!" Now we see that it can get a lot worse than a hospital.

I'm sorry that the lady was killed, but if we can get some traffic safety reinforcement with our pedestrian public, at least we can take something from this. As to what this means to Uber - I actually don't want a driverless car - ever... so I'm not that worried about what it does to their driverless program, or those of alphabet/Google etc.


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## gkr778 (Feb 8, 2013)

wyb said:


> As to what this means to Uber - I actually don't want a driverless car - ever... so I'm not that worried about what it does to their driverless program, or those of alphabet/Google etc.


If Uber cannot successfully establish a business model based on autonomous, shared vehicles, they'll go out of business very quickly. Uber incurred a net loss of $4.5 billion last year.

Paying human drivers that contract with them costs Uber a lot, and that's even with the numerous ways Uber cheats those drivers.


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## gkr778 (Feb 8, 2013)

Video of the incident:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sFrZLVjueXo


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## Zeichen311 (Mar 31, 2011)

gkr778 said:


> Video of the incident:


Goodbye, Uber. That thumping sound you hear is a PR nightmare driving the last nails into your coffin. :wave:

According to the Tempe police chief, "the crash was unavoidable..."? No, sorry--entirely avoidable by an attentive, halfway-competent driver able to make an emergency lane change. There was no oncoming traffic and plenty of room. Even a straight-line panic stop might have been enough to save the woman's life.

The backup driver is going to be vivisected by attorneys as well. It's plain as day in the on-board video that he was not paying attention for several seconds before impact.


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## gkr778 (Feb 8, 2013)

Uber will not be permitted to test autonomous vehicles in Arizona anymore. Governor Ducey suspended Uber Technologies Inc. yesterday.


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## gkr778 (Feb 8, 2013)

Update: Uber has reached a legal settlement with the family of the victim, Elaine Herzberg.


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## mark_m5 (Sep 16, 2006)

Wow. I was just listening to "Humans Need Not Apply" by Jerry Kaplan. I wonder what he thinks about this.


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## gkr778 (Feb 8, 2013)

On May 23, 2018, Uber announced that it's shutting down its self driving testing operations in the state of Arizona.


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## ard (Jul 1, 2009)

Turns out that driver was streaming "The Voice" on his/her cell phone at the time of impact.

Double moron.


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