Self Driving Uber Fatality - Thread V

[drawoh]

Continued from thread815-460104

I have just noticed that the Uber safety driver has been charged with negligent homicide. That first link is September[ ]15, 2020. "Distracted driving is an issue of great importance in our community," County Attorney Allister Adel said Tuesday in a prepared statement.

azcentral: Operator of self-driving Uber charged with negligent homicide in 2018 fatal crash

Slate Magazine: Uber’s Self-Driving Car Killed Someone. Why Isn’t Uber Being Charged?

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JHG

 

[GregLocock]

Her management and the tech guys at uber should also be on the hook. Disabling the Volvo automatic braking and not replacing it is a criminal act, in my opinion. Did she know she was driving without the automatic brakes?


Cheers

Greg Locock


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[IRstuff]

It was still ultimately her responsibility, since she was being PAID to be attentive. Nevertheless, disabling the brakes should receive some form of punishment. Likewise, the crappy software deserves another punishment; the algo guys got so wrapped up in their ability to identify objects that they forgot some fundamental rules of accident avoidance, which is DON'T HIT anything that might be solid. It was an empty roadway; there's no reason the AI couldn't have avoided the entire situation by changing lanes. One stupidity is that the algo couldn't figure out it was moving toward a moving object.

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[SnTMan]

Did she know she was driving without the automatic brakes?

She didn't know she was driving period. And somehow it has become acceptable to exercise all kinds of negligence that would not have been tolerated from the manufacturer of a $100 lawnmower. Because tech.

The problem with sloppy work is that the supply FAR EXCEEDS the demand

 

[Spartan5]

It was still ultimately her responsibility, since she was being PAID to be attentive.

Was she though? Have we seen her contract or job description?

All that fancy tech but no simple system to monitor the monitor. Except for the video, I guess. Must be that Uber had never observed this behavior by the "drivers" before.

 

[IRstuff]

Was she though? Have we seen her contract or job description?

She was in the driver's seat of a car that was undergoing testing by Uber; that makes her the safety driver or she was a stowaway.

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[Spartan5]

Was she a "safety driver" or a "software monitor?" I'm genuinely curious. What did Uber call her? What was their training and expectations of the drivers? What were their qualifications? Their hourly rates?

Surely the driver had to be aware that Uber was going to see what she was or wasn't doing. How many drives had she done the very same thing?

 

[BrianPetersen]

I suspect that the driver was there so that Uber could check off a check-box on a checklist ... nothing more, and was paid accordingly.

 

[LionelHutz]

Yes, Uber screwed up on multiple fronts. But, she was behind the wheel of the car and that ultimately makes her responsible for what happens when the car was driving on the streets. I still think it's rotten that she got hit with that level of charge while Uber got away criminally.

 

[GregLocock]

When we drive protos with, say, no airbag cal, we actually have to sign for it. We are perilously close to having to provide ESC and ABS functionality in the first ever proto of a car. I don't work in that space but that's the impression I get, from what I am asked to provide up-front. Any test involving disabling safety gear has to have an FMEA and be signed off by several relevant people.

At the very least I would expect a briefing on what systems are in a car and what other drivers have found.

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[IRstuff]

The fact that Uber intentionally disabled the automatic braking makes the operator the de factor safety driver and not just a observer, regardless of what Uber might claim.

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[drawoh]

Spartan5,

The article on Slate.com, admittedly not an engineering publication, refers to Uber's safety culture, or lack thereof. Did this driver have some sort of technical qualifications, perhaps subject to peer review, or were they being paid minimum wage?

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JHG