On March 20th, a fatal traffic accident occurred in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday, when a Uber driverless car and a pedestrian (or cyclist) were involved in an accident. The development of driverless cars has had a major impact because it was the first time a driverless car was involved in a fatal car accident.
At about 10 o'clock on Sunday night, the 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was hit by a Uber self-driving Volvo XC90 SUV and then taken to the hospital where she died because of the rescue. At that time, there was a person sitting in the car. Uber had confirmed that the car was running in an automatic driving mode, and the people inside the car were equivalent to safety reserve personnel. Then there will be a team to investigate the accident and see how the accident happened. Although the details are still unclear, it has caused many questions.
Some people think that the development of driverless is too radical. Duke University engineer Missy Cummings said: "California has said that it will allow unmanned cars to drive on the road next month, and there is no need for safety supervisors in the car. I hope this fatal accident can stimulate them and rethink. This plan. Only the dead, NHTSA and Congress realized that the driverless technology is still in the experimental stage, and has not prepared for widespread deployment, it is a pity."
In terms of driverless car development, what level should the supervision be upgraded to? The US Congress is considering it. AutomoTIve News reported at the beginning of the month that with the completion of a series of legislative work, Congress will relax restrictions on R&D and testing of driverless cars. However, some people in the auto industry have stood up and demanded a slowdown in legislation. I hope that the industry will accelerate the repair of safety defects first.
Cummings believes that the performance of the new on-board sensors is not certain, regardless of the timing, the introduction of new technologies should be transparent and prudent. One day before the accident, Cummings published an article about the issue. He said: "There is no doubt that the perception system of driverless cars is still not perfect. Researchers continue to understand the flaws in the system, if they still If new problems arise, then you should not promote technology on a large scale because the timing is not mature."
So should work stop? No, Cummings also pointed out that regulators should be firm and let companies share test data and let local municipalities know that, in the face of when and how to expand the scale of testing, better decisions can be made.
Cummings said: "When deploying technology, companies are moving too fast."
Uber has been in trouble, and now there is a fatal car accident, and the company is in a more embarrassing situation. University of South Carolina School of Law expert Bryant Walker Smith said: "Has Uber become a trustworthy company? This is a test. It must be cautious, be honest, and quickly involve external supervisors in the investigation. If there is no credible investigation They should not touch the system."
Smith also said that despite the accident, our response should not be too intense. He said: "On the same day of the tragedy, another 100 people were killed in a car accident in the United States. Their departure is also a tragedy."
In fact, there are 40,000 people killed in car accidents every year in the United States. In other words, the person who lost his life every day due to a car accident is equivalent to the death caused by the crash of a full-carrier 717 aircraft. More people die in car accidents every day in the world, which is equivalent to the crash of 35 passenger planes.
Smith said: "Developers and regulators know that tragedy will happen and will happen in the future. To be honest, if they think it won't happen, then I will be more worried. Although we should be vigilant about autonomous driving, it should also be Be careful with traditional driving."
In addition, Smith also stressed that the accident on Sunday night should not be over-interpreted with statistical data. He believes that in general, one person will die every 100 million miles traveled by humans; statistically, the accident It does not lead to certain conclusions, but some people will interpret it soon.
Ballard Spahr, a partner at Philadelphia law firm Ballard Spahr, believes that because of the accident, all parties will be involved in close-up review of certain things, such as the interaction of pedestrians, self-driving cars, and infrastructure. He also said: "How to continue to develop autonomous vehicles within the joint transportation system? This is an important data point on the road of deep understanding. What impact will the accident have? Now it is time to predict Early. Before the completion of the complete accident reconstruction work, do not give any conclusions about the performance of the car, and do not make a conclusion on the behavior of the pedestrian."
On Monday afternoon, the National Transportation Safety Board issued a message saying that it had sent a team to investigate the crash, which is also expected, because they seem to be very interested in auto-driving car accidents recently.
The committee hinted that it would focus on the interaction between cars and the environment, other cars, and dangerous road users (such as pedestrians, cyclists). The committee may also assess the role of “in-car people†at the time of the accident. It may not be difficult to understand this because the police have said that they have looked at the camera and recorded images of the car and the interior of the car at the time of the accident. .
Many automakers believe that a semi-autopilot system should be used as a safe backup solution before real autonomous driving. As a transitional phase, if the investigation proves that the driver's reaction speed is not as fast as expected, then these automakers The business strategy will also be strictly reviewed.
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