Cyclist hit by driverless Waymo car in San Francisco, police say
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Here we go. Autonomous vehicles are now mowing down cyclists.
I hope that Waymo's insurance is good!
That car being driverless could have saved their life.
It also sounds like it's a situation that even a human driver wouldn't have been able to avoid. Until the tech can see around corners and through solid objects, this kind of thing is still likely to happen regardless of who or what is driving.
The car's driver AI is becoming more human-like in running down cyclists, that is just concerning.
According to Waymo, the company’s vehicle fully stopped at a four-way intersection before proceeding into the intersection as a large truck was driving through in the opposite direction. “The cyclist was occluded by the truck and quickly followed behind it, crossing into the Waymo vehicle’s path,” the company said in a statement. “When they became fully visible, our vehicle applied heavy braking but was not able to avoid the collision.”
so what I'm hearing is that the cyclist was hidden behind a truck until last second, would a standard driver been able to see the cyclist? It initiated the brakes as soon as it saw the cyclist, not sure what else they expected it to be able to do.
A non-negligent driver would practice defensive driving where you have to check that no vehicle is behind the truck and then start applying the accelerator.
This is just a lame excuse to avoid responsibility.
When handling a > 2 ton machine capable of speeds > 30 Kmph you have to be that careful.
I recommend stripping negligent drivers of their driving license and forcing them to relearn and apply again.
So basically the car gunned it trying to shave .02 seconds off the drive? I mean, how fast of an acceleration did you need to hit someone not "fully visible" behind a truck?
I was actually curious about this so I started looking into it, this article doesn't do it justice. Most articles on it give a better clarification of how the intersection was laid out.
The vehicle definitely didn't gun it to race through the intersection it started moving as soon as it was clear that the truck entering the intersection was going straight and not turning, however the cyclist who was behind it didn't stop at the intersection like the truck did and continued following behind the vehicle until deciding to blindly turn left.
I really don't think that was the fault of the machine and I think a human driver would have done the same thing and are really might not have stopped in time. I think this is a clear no-fault or cyclist fault because the machine followed road laws, I'm not sure why these cyclist would decide to blindly turn left in a four-way intersection knowing that in a four-way intersection the opposite side can go at the same time
The day I get hit by a driverless car while on my bike is the day I lose what little sanity I have left. That car better hope it hits me good, else it's gonna get some heavy u-lock treatment.
They did say they wanted to replace human drivers. Only seems fair that they ignore us on bikes, just like the previous pilots.
I hate the lane assist in our car, I had to shut it off. It kept steering the car back toward obstacles I was trying to avoid, like trucks with wide loads, potholes, and cyclists. I don't know why anyone thinks that shit is a good idea. I'm sure driverless cars will make the same stupid mistakes.
I've never had issues with it because it shuts off when indicating in the direction that you are turning.
I'm not indicating when I'm sliding to the left or right within the lane I'm already in...
Mine disconnects when I steer. Both my cars will just beep at you for actively steering across a line, though you do need to overpower the machine's steering
Yeah that "machine's steering" is what pisses me off (and got shut off).
I've been driving for decades. Hundreds of thousands of miles. Everything from small cars to pickups towing 30' trailers, and motorhomes towing cars. I have ONE at-fault accident in my record during all that time (which likely wouldn't have been helped by the nanny features). I do not need the help.
I'm not saying I'm perfect; I make mistakes, too. But the fucking false alarms and shit from the car is distracting. I almost hit the brakes the first time I got a false alarm, because I thought there was something seriously wrong with our new car. It's training me to ignore the alarm, so when I actually do make a mistake it catches, I'll probably just ignore it - making them useless.
Why TF are cars driving themselves around without people? Like the 1:1 ratio of cars to people wasn't bad enough now we need to clog up the roads and pollute our air even more and for what?? Like literally for what?
In this incident there was a passenger in the car. They were not injured.
The rolling taxis problem is still a thing though. I know there's lots for these self-driving cars to hang out in, but even that means a return trip back to base is without passengers.
The bots can't let humans have all the fun.
Can we get the hyperbole out of here? If OP had actually read (and understood) the article they would have seen it was one of those confluence of events that no one could see coming. As soon as the car detected the cyclist it hit the brakes and the cyclist had minor injuries.
Basically, this car didn't mow anyone down and did exactly what it was designed to do and attempted not to hit anyone.
Had you read (and understood) the article, you would have seen that police have no details about what caused the crash, so you're basing your assessment entirely on what the company said happened.
They have a certain level of damage-control to contend with, so no doubt they won't be admitting negligence.
I think the cyclist only walked away with minor injuries because of the low speed of the accident (the car was allegedly coming off a stop sign) and vehicle type. But I also think it should have it seen or anticipated the cyclist and stopped sooner, especially at such low speeds.
Unless, of course, the claim is that the cyclist hit the car, and not the other way around.
I guess we'll know when Waymo hands over the ride footage. Hopefully, they comply and not withhold it like their competitor did.
To be fair, the article is trash. There's details in other publications, like Reuters:
"Waymo said its vehicle was at a complete stop at a four-way intersection when a large truck crossed the intersection in its direction. At its turn to proceed, the Waymo car moved forward.
However, the cyclist, who was obscured by the truck which the cyclist was following, took a left turn into the Waymo vehicle's path. When the cyclist was fully visible, the Waymo's vehicle braked heavily, but wasn't able to avoid the collision, the company said."
Drafting through an intersection is not very safe (I really should stop doing it myself) because of this exact visibility problem. Heck, it seems our cyclist friend cut left because they couldn't see the waymo car either.
Watch out when crossing busy intersections, folk! Cars are bulky and opaque. Yield when encountering busy intersections.
You need to be better. The article says there was a passenger in the car, I'm sure they can and will testify as to exactly what happened.
Again. This wasn't a mowing down of anyone and it was a situation that even human drivers wouldn't have been able to avoid.
I'm accepting that statement from waymo at face value until given reason not to. There are likely witnesses including the aforementioned passenger. Waymo is the one who called the cops. You need to take a breath and stop letting your hatred of vehicles larger than a bicycle color your take on things. It's not healthy and it will lead to stress based health issues down the road.
The above said. You have a nice day now.
Last year, or the year before, there was a murder in Iceland and it made national news. Why? Because there are virtually no murders in that country - it is an exception to the rule.
Mile-for-mile, self-driving cars fare significantly better than humans: who are actually the ones "mowing down people." Especially the drunk ones. It's exactly the same situation as Iceland with the murders, if you had national news each time a human caused a casualty there would be hardly enough time to tell the news.
The "mowing down" hyperbole is doing your cause no justice. I certainly agree that it's too early to go completely driverless (especially when your trustworthy humans go hands/eyes-free in cars that explicitly disallow it) - but humans have never had the qualifications to deal with something that drives 10x the speed than they can sprint.
If you want to pull self-driving cars off the road then, great! I think we can all agree with that. Let's pull all human drivers off the road first - not only do the statistics support that we're incompet, biology does too.