In the United States, an investigation into an accident involving a Uber mobile car and a cyclist is in full swing. As
already reported , the woman died some time after she was almost at full speed knocked down a car with an autopilot from Uber. It happened in mid-March this year. The accident investigation is conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
As it turned out, the sensors of the car revealed the presence of a pedestrian on the road six seconds before the collision. But due to a combination of a number of factors (dark time of day, the cyclist’s dark clothing, the crossing of the road by her in the wrong place, etc.), the robotic mobile platform couldn’t decide what was ahead. In the end, the computer formed the "opinion" that lies ahead - an indefinite obstacle that can be ignored.
The mobile operator also reacted, but it happened too late - about a second before the collision. The car, which was traveling at a speed of 70 km / h, just did not have time to stop. On the video, which recorded the behavior of the operator, it is clear that the woman behind the wheel does not pay any attention to what is happening on the road. She looks down somewhere, after which she pays attention to the road and catches herself when it is too late.
According to the police , the operator’s head was lowered for 5.3 seconds. Law enforcement officers, not believing in the words of the woman that she was watching the readings of the instruments, decided to check everything on their own. Somehow, they got the idea to check the activity of the operator’s account on Hulu, a service for broadcasting various TV shows and TV shows. As it turned out, on the night of the collision a woman watched the show “Voice” for 42 minutes. The viewing was completed only at 21:59, which correlates with the collision time.
Uber representatives have not commented on the police report yet. It is known that the company prohibits the drivers of their unmobiles from using mobile devices on the road. Operators are told that in case of violation of this rule they may be dismissed. The ban was formed precisely because of concerns that drivers will be distracted. Robomobils in many cases work quite well, “confidently feeling” the road. The operator can relax and go about their business - for example, begin to be distracted by the phone or tablet.
The police
decided to check Raphael Vazquez (that's the name of the driver) after repeatedly watching the video with its reaction to what is happening. According to law enforcement, the operator clearly did not observe the robotic devices, since the range of her emotions indicated that she was observing something pleasant and interesting. It is unlikely that someone is able to look at the readings of the onboard computer during the whole working day with joy. Several times Vasquez smiled, which, in the opinion of the police, reinforces their point of view.
Well, after receiving a report from Hulu, all doubts disappeared - the driver obviously did not perform her job duties, but tried to entertain herself, for which she paid a relatively innocent person (the cyclist not only crossed the road in the wrong place, on her clothes and bicycle itself) there were no light reflectors. In addition, narcotic substances were found in the woman’s blood, which may have been the reason for her not quite adequate behavior on the road).
The Uber robotic system includes radar, cameras and lidar, which uses laser light to detect objects. The system allows you to identify obstacles around the car without the "dead zones".
Uber and some other companies that are working in the field of machine robots, had to suspend work. In addition to the said company, testing of their own autonomous control systems was stopped by Toyota, Nvidia and some other organizations. It is possible that after a while the tests on public roads will be resumed, since it is clear that the autopilot fault is very weak. Yes, the complex somewhat strangely reacted to the problem, but if the operator had acted adequately, there would have been no problem and the accident could not have happened.