[msb-alumni] NTSB: U.S. oversight of self-driving vehicles is lacking
- From: Steve <pipeguy920@xxxxxxxxx>
- To: <msb-alumni@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2019 20:49:36 -0500
BlankNTSB: U.S. oversight of self-driving vehicles is lacking . Michael Laris.
The federal government has failed to provide needed oversight of
autonomous-vehicle
testing on public roads, the National Transportation Safety Board said Tuesday
as the
agency detailed the circumstances of a deadly crash involving a self-driving
Uber
last year. The NTSB said federal officials should require, then evaluate,
safety
assessments from companies that are testing or considering testing self-driving
systems on public streets. Submission of such assessments is voluntary. Those
and
other recommendations came 20-months after a self-driving Uber Volvo XC90
struck and
killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as she walked a bike across a street in
Tempe,
Ariz. NTSB board member Jennifer Homendy, who was appointed to the independent
agency
by President Trump, said the federal government has at times taken a
'laughable'
approach that relies on companies electing to hand over safety information to
federal
regulators. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has 'put
technology
advancements here before saving lives,' Homendy said, mocking voluntary federal
autonomous-vehicles guidance, once dubbed 'a vision for safety,' as 'a vision
for lax
safety. 'There's a big difference between the words 'should encourage' and
'shall,' '
Homendy said. 'There's a major failing on the federal government's part. In a
statement, NHTSA said it welcomes the analysis and will review the NTSB's
recommendations. 'While the technology is rapidly developing, it's important
for the
public to note that all vehicles on the road today require a fully attentive
operator
at all times,' it said. The NTSB also recommended that Arizona officials
'require
developers to submit an application' for testing cars with automated driving
systems.
Such an application should 'detail a plan to manage the risk associated with
crashes
and operator inattentiveness and establish countermeasures to prevent crashes
or
mitigate crash severity' within testing plans, the NTSB said. It said other
states
should do the same. At the federal level, the NTSB said U.S. officials should
evaluate safety assessments once they are required. NHTSA should 'determine
whether
the plans include appropriate safeguards for testing a developmental automated
driving system on public roads, including adequate monitoring of vehicle
operator
engagement, if applicable. The NTSB said the probable cause of the March 2018
crash
that killed Herzberg was the failure of Uber's backup driver, Rafaela Vasquez,
'to
monitor the driving environment and the operation of the automated driving
system
because she was visually distracted throughout the trip. Also contributing to
the
crash, the NTSB said, were several major shortfalls on Uber's part, including
the
company's inadequate assessment of risk and its ineffective oversight of backup
drivers who were susceptible to becoming distracted and overreliant on
imperfect
technologies. Vasquez's smartphone was streaming NBC's 'The Voice,' and she had
looked down inside the vehicle numerous times before the SUV struck Herzberg.
Other
contributing factors, the NTSB said, included the fact that Herzberg was
impaired,
with high levels of methamphetamine in her blood, as she crossed the road; and
the
'insufficient oversight' of automated-vehicle testing by state officials in
Arizona.
NTSB investigators also described widespread problems with Uber's technology at
the
time of the crash, saying that the act of pushing a bike across the road
essentially
stumped Uber's system. NTSB investigators found that Uber's system classified
Herzberg as a vehicle, a bike and an 'other' " but not as a person walking in
the
road. That meant the system failed to predict 'her goal as a jaywalking
pedestrian. A
Volvo safety system that would have braked for Herzberg was disabled by Uber
because
of a technical conflict with its own system. The automated system did not act
to slow
or avoid her. Vasquez began trying to turn to avoid Herzberg '. 02 seconds
before
impact, and initiated braking 0.72 seconds after impact,' according to the
NTSB. Uber
said it has made far-reaching management and technological fixes in the
intervening
months to address problems identified by the NTSB. The NTSB, in turn, praised
the
company for what it called Uber's transparency and for adding numerous safety
checks
in the development of its self-driving program. Uber said it has increased the
rigor
of the company's track testing; improved training for 'mission specialists'
whose job
it is to be the human backup when automation fails; formed an independent
safety
review board to identify 'potential risks'; and launched an overall safety
management
system. The NTSB recommended that Uber 'complete the implementation of a safety
management system for automated driving system testing that, at a minimum,
includes
safety policy, safety risk management, safety assurance, and safety promotion.
The
head of safety for Uber's self-driving division, former NHTSA official Nat
Beuse,
said that the company deeply regrets Herzberg's death and that 'we remain
committed
to improving the safety of our self-driving program. Beuse said the company has
provided the NTSB 'complete access to information about our technology and the
developments we have made since the crash. While we are proud of our progress,
we
will never lose sight of what brought us here or our responsibility to continue
raising the bar on safety. Earlier this year, a local Arizona prosecutor found
'no
basis for criminal liability for the Uber corporation' from the crash. Tempe
police
investigated Vasquez and recommended she be charged with manslaughter. A
spokeswoman
for the Maricopa County attorney's office said prosecutors have not decided
whether
to bring charges. NTSB Chairman Robert L. Sumwalt III said the independent
agency is
seeking to spread the lessons of Tempe broadly before additional deaths happen.
'If
your company tests automated driving systems on public roads, this crash was
about
you. If you use roads where automated driving systems are being tested, this
crash
was about you,' he said. 'If your work touches on automated driving systems at
the
federal or state level of government, this crash was about you. Sumwalt also
took a
jab at Tesla chief executive Elon Musk and said he appreciated Uber's openness
with
the NTSB. 'I did notice when I talked to their CEO he did not hang up on me,'
Sumwalt
said, referring to Uber. 'We were dealing with another automobile manufacturer
who
wasn't necessarily following the rules' regarding the NTSB's investigative
process,
Sumwalt said. 'We had to remove that other organization' as a party, Sumwalt
said.
While Sumwalt did not cite Tesla or Musk by name, he was clearly making a
reference
to a highly unusual public dispute last year between the safety agency and the
electric carmaker. The dispute centered on the investigation of crash in which
Tesla
owner Walter Huang, 38, was killed when his 2017 Model X, running in
semi-automated
'Autopilot' mode, hit a concrete median near Mountain View, Calif. The NTSB
said
Tesla released information publicly in violation of the agency's investigative
rules.
Tesla disputed that it had done anything wrong and said the NTSB had released
'partial bits of incomplete information. A Tesla official did not respond to a
message seeking comment.
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