Exactly why oversight and independent regulation is
important and has a positive role to play.
--A self-driving Uber vehicle taxi struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday evening while she was walking with her bike. Uber has suspended its self-driving tests as a result of the accident, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating. The story received coverage on all three nightly news broadcasts and significant attention from national media outlets and technology-focused websites. The CBS Evening News (3/19, story 2, 2:25, Glor, 11.17M) reported the Uber SUV was operating in autonomous mode at the time of the accident “with only a safety driver on board.” The vehicle was traveling at about 40 miles per hour at the time of the collision, and Tempe Police Department Sgt. Ronald Elcock said, “Our investigation did not show at this time that there were significant signs of the vehicle slowing down.” CBS explained that the woman was struck “a good distance” from the crosswalk, and the NTSB will attempt to determine whether any driver would have been able to avoid the collision.
ABC World News Tonight (3/19, story 9, 1:10, Muir, 14.63M) reported that autonomous vehicles have been involved in crashes before, but this incident “is likely the first pedestrian death involving an autonomous vehicle.” Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said the company will “work with local law enforcement to understand what happened.” NBC Nightly News (3/19, story 2, 1:50, Holt, 16.61M) reported Center for Auto Safety Executive Director Jason Levine told NBC, “We are definitely moving much too quickly getting these things on the road in a location where you have pedestrians, bicyclists, people pushing children in strollers.”
The San
Francisco Chronicle (3/20, Said, 3M) reports Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir
said after viewing videos of the incident that have not been released to the
public, “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision
in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the
shadows right into the roadway.” Moir said, “It is dangerous to cross roadways
in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available.”
Moir pointed out that authorities determined that an autonomous Uber vehicle
was not at fault for a 2017 collision in Arizona, and she added, “I suspect
preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this
accident, either.” However, she “won’t rule out the potential to file charges
against the (backup driver) in the Uber vehicle.”
The Associated
Press (3/19) reports the accident “could have far-reaching consequences for the
new technology” because a fatal event involving a pedestrian “was the event
many in the auto and technology industries were dreading but knew was
inevitable.” The AP reports the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration
has also sent investigators to the scene. Reuters (3/19) calls the incident
“the first significant test of how policy makers and the public will respond to
the new technology.” Reuters says Uber and Waymo wrote to Senators requesting
them to approve legislation bolstering self-driving vehicles “in the coming
weeks.” However, Reuters reports that auto and technology officials have said
that accidents and deaths caused by self-driving vehicles will be far lower
than the number of people saved by eliminating the human error, distracted
driving, and impaired driving of human operators. Reuters quotes Transportation
Secretary Elaine Chao discussing autonomous vehicles on March 1, “The goal is
to develop common sense regulations that do not hamper innovation, while
preserving safety.” The New York Times (3/19, Wakabayashi, Subscription Publication, 13.35M) reports the testing of self-driving vehicles “has taken place in a piecemeal regulatory environment,” and Arizona has been more “lenient” in regulating autonomous vehicles in order to attract companies developing the technology in California. The Times adds that a bill under consideration in the US Senate “would free autonomous-car makers from some existing safety standards and pre-empt states from creating their own vehicle safety laws.” The NTSB said it will look into “the vehicle’s interaction with the environment, other vehicles and vulnerable road users such as pedestrians and bicyclists.” The Washington Post (3/19, Siddiqui, Laris, 15.96M) reports 50 companies have received permits to test autonomous vehicles in California, and starting next month, California will allow “technology developers to apply to test and deploy cars without a human behind the wheel if they meet various safety, notification and other criteria.”
