'Driverless' Robo Taxi hits and kills dog in San Francisco

A self-driving Google car ran over and killed a small dog during a test drive in San Francisco — adding to local officials’ fears over a massive planned rollout of the ride-sharing robotaxis.

They better fear that rollout and get good insurance policies. The dog's owner will probably be the first of many to sue them.
 
Another lesson learned on the path to driverless cars.

Driverless cars need to be safe, as safe or safer than human driven cars. That's not a real high hurdle, almost 43,000 Americans died in traffic accidents last year, most, maybe all, human driven. I am thinking it won't be long before driverless cars will improve on those numbers.

We can't expect no accidents with driverless cars, but that's not what we need to make the transition, just an improvement.
 

Or perhaps the blame should be on the dog owner who didn’t keep his pet leashed in the city.

A source claimed that the dog was running off its leash and would likely have been hit even with an attentive driver behind the wheel.
Click to expand...

No vehicle will be able to prevent every accident. An autonomous car has faster reaction times than a person.
 
San Francisco supervisors just approved using robo driving taxis by 2 companies, 24/7. You will note in this article (free link) that two municipal agencies who WERE NOT thrilled at the idea were the multiple County Public Transit agencies (there are 4 separate counties running buses into SF) and the first responders; i.e., fire and emergency workers.

‘Incompetent’ driverless cars are wreaking havoc on San Francisco
SFGATE 06June2023
https://www.sfgate.com/tech/article/cruise-waymo-driverless-cars-san-francisco-18132953.php
 
Lethe200 said:
San Francisco supervisors just approved using robo driving taxis by 2 companies, 24/7. You will note in this article (free link) that two municipal agencies who WERE NOT thrilled at the idea were the multiple County Public Transit agencies (there are 4 separate counties running buses into SF) and the first responders; i.e., fire and emergency workers.

‘Incompetent’ driverless cars are wreaking havoc on San Francisco
Click to expand...
Thanks for the link, this is an interesting read. Unfortunately like most of these articles no safety statistics are cited. So for all we know these robo taxis are a lot safer than human ones...
 
You can't stop Progress. We have driverless cars and planes without pilots. Pretty soon schools without teachers and maybe hospitals with robots taking care of the patiences.

Now those still living, what will they do? They will shop and shop and shop and shop and shop.

Brave New World but not so Smart New World!
 
all through the testing of various driver less cars for the last few years ......... there have been accidents killing pedestrians / animals etc. so not exactly a surprise.
Driving can have split second decisions that if not in the AI camera view and programmed what to do in this case etc ....... a driver is needed ... the human "driver " was otherwise distracted it sound like..... so not really any difference....

It is coming and hopefully slowly so i do not have to deal with it .... I enjoy driving especially long stretches out on the highway.
i remember idiots that thought when cruise control was becoming standard ......it was auto pilot ........and had some real gnarly crashes.....
I remember a rented RV going off an overpass in our city ... the driver was making a drink cause he thought it was auto pilot.
 
My daughter just bought a semi auto car/truck (front like a car/back like a truck(tail gait and all). We were going down the interstate...She said, Mama watch this, no hands! I think I froze as the vehicle passed an 18 wheeler, then changed lanes to get in front of the 18 Wheeler...Still she never put her hands on the wheel. Vehicle slowed when it came upon another vehicle, car put on blinker, went around car, blinker...moved in lane in front of car. Daughter said isn't that cool? I said I prefer my hands controlling the wheel...lol. She is 47...she loves her vehicle.
 
I remember a guy predicting a bright future for driverless cars based on the fact that humans have such a horrible track record of driver safety.
 
MaryM58 said:
My daughter just bought a semi auto car/truck (front like a car/back like a truck(tail gait and all). We were going down the interstate...She said, Mama watch this, no hands! I think I froze as the vehicle passed an 18 wheeler, then changed lanes to get in front of the 18 Wheeler...Still she never put her hands on the wheel. Vehicle slowed when it came upon another vehicle, car put on blinker, went around car, blinker...moved in lane in front of car. Daughter said isn't that cool? I said I prefer my hands controlling the wheel...lol. She is 47...she loves her vehicle.
Click to expand...
My new car has that similar feature. And it is a helpful safety feature, but you have to remember that it only works in the cruise control mode. If you have recently touched the brake, or made some other adjustment that disconnects the cruise control, you may think your car will stop in time when the guy in front slams on his brake. I worry about this, specifically that I may subconsciously depend on my car's sensors when I'm not on cruise control.
 
While the thought of having a driverless car ready to escort me to any destination is appealing to me as I age, I don’t think that the technology has quite been perfected yet to an extent that I’d commit my life to it…

IMG_1713.jpeg
 
Fyrefox said:
While the thought of having a driverless car ready to escort me to any destination is appealing to me as I age, I don’t think that the technology has quite been perfected yet to an extent that I’d commit my life to it…
Click to expand...
They are getting close. It seems to be a natural transition. Each new car you buy seems to have a couple more features that are necessary for 100% "driverless." One day, 100% will be the norm, and you won't even think about it. Well, I'll be gone, but someone else won't have to think about it.
 
Driverless vehicles have a long way to go before they will be an improvement - which is sad to say, because I'd LIKE to see AI be used to improve traffic flow.

I have a $2100 technology option on my Ford Edge Sport SUV. Granted this is a 2017 car, but it has 95% of the same safety features of the majority of current cars. It has "blind spot metering", so if there is a vehicle in my blind spot on either side, a light appears in the appropriate side mirror.

Except....there are at least two car models that are "invisible" to this metering. Why, I have no idea. They are standard size cars - one is a Mercedes, in fact - but the metering feature cannot see the car at all, even when it's directly across from mine.

Also, the much-vaunted "lane change recognition" feature? This is essential in "hands free driving". Our roads in CA are constantly under construction and much-needed maintenance, so lane striping is often altered temporarily so work crews can get highway projects completed. It's a rare car whose lane recognition software doesn't get confused at least on occasion by these instances.

Not long ago I encountered a freeway exit that was being worked on, and the normal striping was hastily (and sloppily) altered. I have my lane software turned to "vibrate only"; I NEVER let it control the wheel. The temporary exit markings were there, but the turn was sharp with a much shorter approach than normal. I could tell by the vibrations the software was totally confused about where the center of the lane actually was.

Now, no one with any sense would be using an autodrive system to exit a freeway....but as we all know, there are too many drivers who don't seem to have much common sense, and unfortunately, sometimes it's others who end up paying the price for their stupidity.

Even Tesla, who pushes autodrive more than any other mfg, doesn't believe in using automatic driving in crowded urban situations. Allowing two companies to use residents and commuters of a very crowded city as their 'guinea pigs' for perfecting their proprietary software, is a truly dumb idea.
 
Will we ever build a self-driving car that will never have an accident? No. That is absolutely impossible. The only self-driving non-accident thing we have is people, who claim they will never have an accident. Now, exactly, why do we carry car insurance.............
 

You must log in or register to reply here.

Back
Top