[msb-alumni] LONG: Uber Autonomous Vehicle Kills Pedestrian Articles
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 25 Mar 2018 14:49:14 -0400
BlankUber Autonomous Vehicle Kills Pedestrian Articles
Video shows Uber operator moments before self-driving car crash that killed
pedestrian Uriel J. Garcia and Ryan Randazzo, The Arizona Republic
PHOENIX -- The Tempe Police Department on Wednesday released a video that shows
the moments before a self-driving Uber vehicle fatally hit a 49-year-old woman.
The crash, which occurred about 10 p.m. Sunday on a street in Tempe, is
believed
to be the nation's first
pedestrian death involving an autonomous vehicle. Police said the Uber vehicle
was in autonomous mode when the crash happened. The vehicle had a backup
operator behind the wheel, which is common in case the vehicle has to be taken
out of self-driving mode.
Officials identified the operator as 44-year-old Rafaela Vasquez. Elaine
Herzberg of Mesa was walking a bike across a street outside of a crosswalk when
she was hit, police said. She died of her injuries.
"The video is disturbing and heartbreaking to watch, and our thoughts continue
to be with Elaine's loved ones," said Uber spokesperson Chelsea Kohler. "Our
cars remain grounded, and we're assisting local, state and federal authorities
in any way we can."
The edited video released by Tempe police cuts off the moment just before the
vehicle crashes into Herzberg. Footage, captured from a camera inside the
vehicle, shows Vasquez looking down
moments before the crash. It also shows that as soon as she picks up her head
to
look toward the road she looks surprised before the video cuts off.
Uber's self-driving vehicles are equipped not only with cameras, but with radar
and lidar, which works like radar but uses lasers to detect objects on and off
the roadway. Uber and other companies working to develop self-driving cars tout
the safety of their systems not only because the vehicles won't lose focus on
the road, like human drivers, but because they have superior sensing
capabilities.
Last fall, Uber officials showing off their vehicles in Tempe said their radar
and lidar were able to detect objects, including jaywalkers, as far as 100
yards
away and avoid collisions.
*****
Toyota halts self-driving program as Uber fatality ripples across autonomous
car
landscape Marco della Cava , USA TODAY
SAN FRANCISCO -- The ripple effect of a deadly incident involving an Uber
self-driving car in Arizona widened Thursday as Toyota disclosed that it was
pausing its autonomous car testing program. "For us, it's about the well-being
of our'(safety) drivers, because an incident like this can be jarring, and
they're out there every single day," Rick Bourgoise, communications manager
with
Toyota Research Institute, told USA TODAY. "We want to give (drivers) time to
process and reflect," he said. "Then we will resume."
Toyota has a small fleet of sensor-equipped Lexus vehicles that it has been
testing on public roads in both Michigan and California. It will continue to
test its cars on three closed, private facilities designed just for autonomous
vehicles, GoMentum in California and MCity and the American Center for Mobility
in Michigan.
GM's first self-driving vehicle is a heavily
Bourgoise said Toyota engineers in Japan would not be pausing their tests. He
did not have information on whether that testing also is on public roads.
NuTonomy, a self-driving car company based in Boston, also will pause its
programs after being asked to by city officials. NuTonomy was bought by Delphi
last fall for $450 million, part of a wave of acquisitions designed to ensure
that all sectors of the automotive industry have a foothold in the new
technology. Proponents of self-driving cars say their sensors are better
equipped at detecting possible accidents before they happen and will
drastically
reduce the 40,000 annual traffic deaths.
Ride-hailing companies such as Uber and Lyft have plunged into the race as well
because eliminating the driver would radically improve their business models.
But critics have long cautioned that self-driving tech remains in its infancy
and is not ready for testing among the general population, a cry that is bound
to echo following the pedestrian death in Arizona.
Uber immediately halted its testing in a variety of cities after its
self-driving Volvo XC90 struck a homeless woman who was crossing a street at
night in Tempe on Sunday. Dashboard video released Wednesday showed both the
vehicle and its safety driver up until the moment of impact. The driver appears
to frequently look down in the moments preceding the moment
of impact, while the car never slows from its 38 mph speed.
For the moment, self-driving car companies -- be they large automakers or small
start-ups --
seem unsure of how to proceed in the wake of the Arizona incident. Most have
not indicated they will stop with testing.
Ford said in a statement Thursday that it would not be halting its program.
"Safety is our top priority always, including in testing autonomous vehicles,
and we have an established process to make data-driven decisions," said
spokesman Alan Hall. "When more facts and data are available to us, we will
make
a determination about whether we need to adjust our approach to autonomous
vehicle development."
San Francisco mayor Mark Farrell is meeting with representatives from a number
of self-driving tech companies Thursday afternoon to discuss parameters for
autonomous vehicle testing in his city. The companies attending include'Uber,
Lyft, Zoox, GM Cruise, Waymo,
and Phantom Auto.
"Autonomous vehicles have the potential to change our streets, but first we
must
ensure that this technology is completely safe for everyone, our motorists,
pedestrians, bicyclists and public transportation passengers," Farrell said in
a
statement.
General Motors, whose Cruise division develops and tests self-driving tech,
declined to comment.
Lyft and Waymo, Google's self-driving car company, did not immediately respond
to a request for comment about their testing plans.
Uber's crash continues to be investigated by police in Arizona as well as
officials from the National Transportation Safety Board. Tempe police had
characterized the accident as "unavoidable."
A dashboard video shows a somewhat distracted safety driver, Rafaela Vasquez,
44, at the wheel of Uber's self-driving Volvo SUV. In mere instants, the road
ahead goes from empty to filled with an image of the victim, Elaine Herzberg,
49, who was crossing the dark road with a bicycle.
Vasquez, who frequently looks down toward her lap in the final seconds before
impact, did not see Herzberg until it was too late. But what remains unclear is
why the car's various sensors -- which include radar, cameras and laser
scanners
called LiDAR -- did not alert the vehicle to the pedestrian's presence well
before impact.
"This incident reminds people who think tech is a panacea that that's just not
true," says Karl Bauer, executive publisher of Cox Automotive. Brauer notes
that
when ABS, or anti-lock brakes, first appeared on the market, a combination of
rudimentary tech and user error led to many accidents, as drivers pumped their
brakes in order not to lock up their wheels, which confused the system.
"For that matter, airbags, which do save a lot of people, also continue to kill
a lot of people," he says. "Technology can reduce (fatalities), but it's never
going to just eliminate them. And no amount of tech will bend the laws of
physics.
To date, 32 states have passed measures that welcome self-driving cars,
according to the National Conference of State Legislators. That figure stands
as
a testament to how states don't want to be left behind in a race toward a new
mobility paradigm that could entice companies and grow jobs.
Currently, companies are testing in about a half-dozen states, notably
California, Arizona and Michigan.
"The exuberance has outpaced a sense of balance and sober reflection," says
Stephen Beck, founder of management consultancy cg42. He anticipates that the
Arizona death may cause some officials to think twice before giving tech
companies carte blanche for testing on their streets. "It's there's a positive
outcome from this tragedy, it's perhaps creating a new sense of balance between
accommodating the private companies that are developing this tech and the
safety
needs of the communities where this testing is happening," he says.
So far, there hasn't been a noticeable hue and cry from citizens to stop
autonomous car testing in the wake of Uber's crash. But, says Beck, that could
still come. "Regular people are simply not clamoring for these vehicles, and
the
vast majority simply don't have interest in them," he says. "And what we're
seeing here is, the technology is just not there yet."
*****
Video shows autonomous Uber, backup driver failing to protect pedestrian .
Michael Laris
Vehicle operator repeatedly took her eyes off road,
evidence shows Video released by Tempe, Ariz., police graphically underscores
how both an autonomous Uber SUV and its backup driver failed to protect a
pedestrian who was struck and killed as she walked a bike across a spottily lit
thoroughfare.
The pedestrian, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, was crossing the street outside of
the crosswalk Sunday night when she was hit, according to police. Behind the
wheel was a human chaperon who was supposed to be backstopping Uber's
developing
technology. But the Uber employee, Rafaela Vasquez, 44, repeatedly took her
eyes
off the road in the run-up to the deadly collision, onboard video shows,
raising
questions about whether any distractions might have been at play.
Police have said the Volvo XC90 was traveling at about 40 mph when it struck
Herzberg. It is the first known death involving the testing of driverless
vehicles, and the National Transportation Safety Board is investigating.
Uber would not say Thursday whether Vasquez was on a cellphone, whether she was
following company procedures before the collision or whether she remains an
Uber
employee. Testing of the company's driverless fleet remains suspended, an Uber
spokeswoman said, "so no vehicle operators, including this one, are on the
road."
Vasquez pleaded guilty to attempted armed robbery in 2000, according to
Maricopa
County Superior Court records. Uber declined to comment.
The video shows Vasquez with a sudden look of shock on her face before hitting
Herzberg, and she tenses up, apparently trying to seize control of the vehicle.
Police have said there were no "significant signs of the vehicle slowing down.
Uber would not say if or when the sensor-packed SUV's multiple laser, camera
and
computer systems detected Herzberg or if the car's brakes were applied. Uber
declined to comment on the video, saying it did not want to prejudge the
investigation.
Tempe police said the investigation is continuing and would not say whether
Vasquez was distracted by something in the vehicle.
Self-driving Uber vehicles with backup drivers have carried passengers on
50,000
rides in Arizona and Pittsburgh, the company said. Customers call for a car
with
the app as usual and are notified if they happen to be selected for an
autonomous ride. They are charged the normal UberX fare and can decline
the self-driving experience if they want a human to do the driving.
Uber would not comment on the precise procedures and instructions for backup
drivers but said "the standard protocol is to be hovering and be ready to
intervene as needed.
Backup drivers have three weeks of training in classrooms, on closed courses
and
on public roads with a back-seat driver coaching them, the company said. But
that training can butt up against human nature and personal responsibility.
Many developers of driverless technology say humans can easily be lulled into a
false sense of security as they putter along city streets, leaving them
mentally
unprepared to suddenly seize control of the wheel if they are needed.
"If humans become over-reliant on the technology, and yet they still have a
role
to play in safe operations of the vehicle, that is absolutely a risk factor,"
said Deborah A.P. Hersman, president of the National Safety Council and former
chairman of the National Transportation Safety Board. Some tech firms and
carmakers are pushing for cars with no steering wheels to avoid this middle
ground where people are expected to backstop technology.
California has required the presence of such safety drivers, although starting
next month firms can apply for a permit not to use them if certain requirements
are met. Arizona, which has touted its limited regulations as a competitive
advantage
in the burgeoning industry, does not require the drivers. Uber had used them in
Arizona anyway because, some outside observers said, the company wanted an
extra
layer of safety as its technology matured.
The vehicle that hit Herzberg "was being supervised. There's a reason there's
a
safety driver there -- because Uber wasn't confident of the performance of that
vehicle under those conditions at that time," said Bryant Walker Smith, an
assistant professor of law at the University of South Carolina and an expert on
autonomous cars.
In a marketing video issued in October, Uber boasted of its rigorous operator
training and the safety capabilities of its vehicles.
"Our vehicle operators are extensively trained to handle everything from a
thunderstorm to a gaggle of geese crossing the road, so you can ride
comfortably
knowing that our team is committed to keeping you safe," said the narrator of
the video.
It noted the value of these human chaperons. "Then there's Ryan," the video
continued. "He's what we call a vehicle operator, and he's here to make sure
the
vehicle does exactly what it's supposed to do. But before Ryan could hit the
road, he had to hit the books. He's one of hundreds of vehicle operators who've
passed test after test in the classroom and out on the track. These tests teach
operators and vehicles to expect the unexpected -- like swinging car doors,
pedestrians and unusual roadways."
*****
Victim of self-driving Uber accident could be to blame, expert says Ryan
Randazzo, The Arizona Republic
PHOENIX -- The woman who was hit by a self-driving Uber vehicle this week in
Arizona could be blamed for the incident, an expert said. Video released
Wednesday of Sunday's accident in Tempe, Ariz., shows the car not appearing to
brake or steer away from pedestrian Elaine Herzberg, 49, as she walked across
an
open lane and in front of the car.
Herzberg appeared to be looking away from the oncoming vehicle, while an in-car
camera shows Uber driver Rafaela Vasquez looking down at something below the
dashboard, out of view of the camera, before the collision.
Drivers remain behind the wheel of Uber's cars to take over when the cars'
autonomous systems fail. The National Transportation Safety Board and National
Highway Traffic Safety Administration are investigating, and industry experts
are eager to see what they find regarding the robot car's performance in what
should have been a routine interaction with a pedestrian.
Self-driving car experts are not surprised someone was killed in a pedestrian
accident involving the cutting-edge technology, but they are shocked at how
dramatically the technology failed. It was exactly the type of accident Uber
and
other self-driving car companies say their advanced sensors and computer
programming should prevent.
"This is not something I would expect artificial intelligence to struggle
with,"
said Jim McPherson, a California attorney and self-driving car consultant who
has criticized the industry for moving too fast to put untested technology on
public roads.
Regardless of the failure of the car's technology, James Arrowood,'an expert in
motor-vehicle and product-liability issues, said the accident appears to be
primarily caused by the pedestrian, and anyone suing for damages on her behalf
faces a challenge.
Law firm Bellah Perez on Thursday announced it is representing Herzberg's
daughter, though officials did not say explicitly they will sue Uber or the
driver.
"A lot of people think (Uber) will just write a check for a billion dollars or
something," said Arrowood, who teaches the State Bar of Arizona course on
driverless cars. "That is not going to happen."
He said he expects a settlement, not a jury trial. But any settlement Uber
might
pay will be calculated based on the victim's lifetime earnings and life
expectancy, both presumably low
for a person living on the street.
"Whether people think that is fair or not, there is an analysis of lifetime
earnings that is going to temper any judgment in a case like this," he said.
"People don't like that. They say life is worth an equal amount. It is, but not
under the law necessarily."
A question for jurors, if it goes that route, will be whether the robot car
should have a higher standard than a human driver, Arrowood said. He said the
video shows a driver would have had about 1 second to react after the
pedestrian
came into view, and that it takes drivers about two seconds on average to spot
and react to such an obstacle.
"You would have a difficult time trying to convince a jury the outcome would
have been different had it just been a driver in the vehicle," he said.
When pedestrians are in a crosswalk and obeying traffic signals, drivers have
the responsibility to not hit them, Arrowhead said. But when pedestrians cross
outside of a crosswalk, it is their responsibility to yield to traffic and not
get hit. That makes the pedestrian negligent in this accident, he said.
"The company has a good defense," Arrowood said of Uber. "The video helps them."
He said the fact that the driver is looking away from the road at something
below the dashboard area isn't great for the Uber driver. "There will be some
questions
as to what the safety driver was doing and should have been doing," he said. "A
smart attorney will go after Uber for the training of the safety driver."
The law firm representing Herzberg's daughter mentioned that Arizona has
welcomed this technology as a reason the case is important, saying it has
shifted accident liability in self-driving car accidents.
"As an Arizona law firm, we feel a special responsibility to represent this
case
as it directly impacts our fellow Arizonans sharing the road with these
machines," said partner Cristina Perez Hesano.
Arrowood said that because of Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey's 2015 executive order
that permits testing of self-driving cars, a defense attorney for Uber could
ask
a judge to prevent a jury from considering the fact
that the car was only on the road for research purposes.
"That would be prejudicial against the company," he said.
*****
Despite deadly Uber crash, self-driving cars must remain on roads Mark Phelan ,
Detroit Free Press Auto Critic
Something appears to have gone badly wrong in the traffic accident in which an
Uber self-driving car killed a pedestrian in Arizona last week.
We can hope there will not be other deaths, but this wasn't the first and won't
be the last time an autonomous vehicle is involved in an accident. Still, it
shouldn't derail the technology's development.
The initial report by the Tempe police said the victim, a 49-year-old woman
walking alongside her bicycle, suddenly stepped in front of the Volvo SUV in
which Uber was testing its self-driving technology.
The night was dark, the street was poorly lit and the woman crossed in the
middle of a block, not at a crosswalk.
"It would have been difficult to avoid this collision, whether a human or
machine was in control," Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir told the San Francisco
Chronicle.
That's not so clear to some people well-acquainted with the development of
autonomous vehicles.
Video from cameras mounted on the vehicle raise questions about the vehicle and
Uber's test procedure. The backup driver in the vehicle was looking down rather
than ahead to watch for trouble.
While even an attentive driver might not have seen the pedestrian, the
autonomous vehicle's radar and lidar sensors are independent of lighting
conditions and should have, Navigant Research senior analyst Sam Abuelsamid
said.
Federal inspectors from the National Transportation Safety Board are
investigating the crash. Uber put its test program on hold following the crash.
"This accident is concerning, and we need to get all the facts about what
caused
it," Michigan Sen. Gary Peters said. "Congress must move quickly to enhance
oversight of self-driving vehicles by updating federal safety rules and
ensuring
regulators have the right tools and resources to oversee the safe testing and
deployment of these emerging technologies."
Peters and South Dakota Sen. John Thune have sponsored a bill to create
national
standards for autonomous vehicle testing.
Uber's test vehicles are very different from the handful of semi-autonomous
cars
you can buy today. Vehicles like the Cadillac CT6 with Super Cruise and Nissan
Rogue and Leaf with ProPilot Assist require much more human oversight than the
fully autonomous test vehicles.
Super Cruise operates only on restricted-access highways, where there should be
no pedestrians. It uses monitors to make sure the driver is paying attention
and
has bright lights and audio alerts to tell the driver if something's wrong.
Nissan's ProPilot Assist requires the driver to have a hand on the wheel at all
times, as does Tesla's Autopilot.
Systems like those, pedestrian detection and autonomous emergency braking are
becoming more common every day. Ford just announced autonomous braking and
pedestrian detection will be standard on the 2019 Fusion midsize sedan. Prices
should start around $22,000.
At the other end of the spectrum, Toyota plans to offer automatic steering to
avoid pedestrians on top models of the $75,000-plus Lexus LS.
Within a few years, virtually every new vehicle will have many of those
features.
That should make driving safer, but fully autonomous vehicles will be safer
still. Even when a human is driving, the driver assist systems will take over
to
brake or swerve to avoid or reduce impacts.
To get to that point, though, we have to share the roads with the test vehicles
developing those technologies today. Regulators and automakers must work
together and dedicated proving grounds like the American Center for Mobility
in Willow Run will be vital, but you can't do this without testing on public
roads, and we need to accept that there will be some failures.
Not every incident should make national headlines. More than 37,000 people died
in accidents involving vehicles people were driving last year, an estimated
6,000 of them pedestrians. Autonomous vehicles won't eliminate accidents and
deaths, but they will eventually make us safer on the road than we've ever been
before.
*****
Fatal Uber crash in Arizona spurs a debate over regulation . Michael Laris.
U.S. Senate proposal for policy on self-driving cars could be affected Debate
on the proper role of government in overseeing autonomous cars has sharpened in
Washington and around the country after a woman was struck and killed in
Arizona by a self-driving Uber vehicle. A coalition of safety advocates and
consumer groups is warning senators - who are considering a bipartisan
driverless-vehicle
bill - that the 49-year-old pedestrian killed in Tempe on Sunday will probably
be the first of many victims of "industry misconduct and government missteps"
in the largely unregulated realm. "The stage is now set for what will
essentially be beta-testing on public roads with families as unwitting crash
test
dummies," the groups wrote. But Bill Peduto, mayor of Pittsburgh, where Uber's
self-driving technology unit is headquartered, told a local radio host that
"progress and risk walk hand in hand. "When we were testing airplanes, there
was
a risk. When we were testing automobiles, there was risk. When we're testing
inoculation, there's risk. It's inevitable that at some point there was going
to
be a fatality," the mayor said. "We know, in the long run, these cars
will make all cars safer. A key question is what will happen with the proposal
to set policy on self-driving cars known as the American Vision for Safer
Transportation Through Advancement of Revolutionary Technologies (AV START)
Act.
The bill, introduced last year by the Senate's third-ranking GOP leader,
John Thune (S.D.), and Gary Peters (D-Mich.), would preempt individual states
from regulating "the design, construction, or performance of" autonomous
cars and would require carmakers and tech companies to submit an evaluation
report to the federal government documenting why their vehicles are safe. Under
current federal policy, such safety letters are voluntary. Waymo, formerly
Google's self-driving car project, was the first to submit such a letter,
followed
by General Motors. Uber has not, nor have dozens of other companies developing
the technology. The bill would also sharply increase the number of exemptions
manufacturers can get from federal motor vehicle safety standards - from a
maximum of 2,500 a year to 80,000 annually within several years - as long as
they can establish there is a "safety equivalence. Developers of the technology
want to remove steering wheels and make other changes to traditional car
designs, but are hindered by rules written in another era. The House passed
comparable legislation on a voice vote in September in a rare bout of widespread
bipartisan agreement. This month, Thune said he thought the Senate bill, if it
reaches the floor amid competing priorities, could pass with 85 votes. Thune
spokesman Frederick Hill said that prediction stands. In a statement issued
after Elaine Herzberg was killed as she crossed a street mid-block along a
darkened thoroughfare, Thune said the tragedy underscores the need for Congress
to "update rules, direct manufacturers to address safety requirements,
and enhance technical expertise of regulators. The National Transportation
Safety Board and the Tempe police vehicular crimes unit are among those
investigating.
Onboard video showed that neither the car, which was packed with sensors, nor a
backup driver, who kept looking down, ended up protecting Herzberg as she
calmly pushed a bike across the roadway. Some supporters of the Senate
legislation said they thought Herzberg's death could complicate discussions
about
the bill. One Senate aide said opponents are using the incident "as ammunition.
"The safety advocates have already shaken this thing around. . . . Certainly,
the optics don't look good," the aide said. But "I don't think anyone who
thinks
seriously about this technology and about these vehicles did not know
something like this was eventually going to happen, sooner rather than later.
Days before the fatal crash, five Democratic senators - Dianne Feinstein
(Calif.), Kirsten Gillibrand (N.Y.), Edward J. Markey (Mass.), Tom Udall (N.M.)
and Richard Blumenthal (Conn.) - signed a joint letter outlining objections
to the bill. Pending the addition of much-needed new safety standards for
driverless cars, any "interim framework must provide the same level of safety
as current standards," the letter says. "Self-driving cars should be no more
likely to crash than cars currently do, and should provide no less protection
to oc'cup'ants or pedestrians in the event of a crash. The senators said
exemptions from current standards should be "temporary and reviewable. They also
said there should be a "sunset" on the preemption provision that would keep
state hands off driverless regulation. "We are concerned that the bill
indefinitely
preempts state and local safety regulations even if federal safety standards
are
never developed," they wrote. "It's all been talked about in terms of
theoretical issues up until now," said Joan Claybrook, a former head of the
National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, who wants specific standards
such as a "vision test" for the vehicles in the Senate bill. "It's going to
create some momentum and concern."
*****
Testing of driverless cars still underway . Peter Holley.
Uber suspended work after crash, but other firms are forging ahead
In the days following last weekend's deadly accident involving a driverless
Uber
vehicle in Arizona, attention has turned to what other car companies are doing
with self-driving technology. Elaine Herzberg, 49, was struck and killed while
crossing a street in Tempe on Sunday night, prompting the ride-hailing company
to suspend testing of its autonomous vehicles in San Francisco, Phoenix,
Pittsburgh and Toronto. Herzberg is believed to be the first person killed by
an
autonomous vehicle being tested on a city street.
While the National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation,
other companies are continuing their testing of autonomous vehicles.
In a statement released to the media, Ford -- which is testing autonomous
vehicles in Florida -- said safety is the company's "top priority," but company
officials are taking a wait-and-see approach after the latest incident. "When
more facts and data are available to us, we will make a determination about
whether we need to adjust our approach to autonomous vehicle development," the
statement said. The company is aiming to have a fully autonomous vehicle in
operation in 2021.
General Motors is still testing its vehicles as well, according to the New York
Times.
Waymo and Lyft -- two of Uber's chief rivals in the driverless space -- did not
respond to requests for comment about the status of their testing programs.
Waymo, which began as Google's self-driving car project in 2009, has already
begun transporting members of the public around parts of Phoenix in its
autonomous taxis. The company, which has a 600-vehicle fleet in Phoenix,
recently announced plans to order thousands more Chrysler Pacifica minivans as
it expands into other cities.
Lyft has embarked on autonomous testing with multiple automakers, including
Ford
and GM.
Toyota appears to be the only company that has curbed elements of its
autonomous-vehicle tests in response to Sunday's fatality. In a statement,
company officials said they can't speculate on the cause of the incident or how
it will affect the automated-driving industry.
"Because Toyota Research Institute (TRI) feels the incident may have an
emotional effect on its test drivers, TRI has decided to temporarily pause its
own Chauffeur mode testing on public roads," the statement said. Toyota will
continue testing its vehicles on tracks and through Guardian, a driver-assist
system that is designed to prevent accidents when a human driver is behind the
wheel.
While the accident in Arizona has drawn attention to driverless vehicles
ferrying passengers on city streets, the technology is also making its way into
the trucking industry and the nation's highways. This month Waymo announced
that
its self-driving trucks would begin making deliveries in Georgia.
But some safety experts, like Brian Fielkow, chief executive of a trucking and
logistics company called Jetco Delivery, said the accident reveals that
autonomous-vehicle testing is moving too fast.
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