Woman seriously injured after being struck by Cruise autonomous car in San Francisco

[Brian4Liberty]

Woman seriously injured after being struck by Cruise autonomous car in San Francisco: officials

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) -- A woman is seriously injured after being struck by a Cruise autonomous car in San Francisco Monday night, officials said.

SFPD says at 9:31 p.m., officers responded to 5th and Market Streets and discovered a female pedestrian struck by a Cruise vehicle.
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SFFD tells ABC7 News they had to use the "jaws of life" to lift car off of the woman, adding that it is "the most serious" incident that they are aware of involving an autonomous vehicle.
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More: https://abc7news.com/cruise-autonomous-car-hits-pedestrian-san-francisco/13857047/

 

[acptulsa]

The chauffeurs of Soviet inner party members were well known for running down plebes who didn't jump out of the way fast enough, too...

 

[CaptUSA]

Just so we don't get too emotional about this...

At least in RFP, we should compare the safety record of autonomous vehicles compared to the safety record of human-driven vehicles. One type of accident makes the news, while the other is such a regular occurrence people care more about the traffic implications. But yeah, it does trigger an emotional response when someone is killed by a machine. An added benefit of this type of accident, while tragic for the person involved, is that all automated vehicles will learn from it. Whereas in a human situation, maybe one driver learns a lesson from the experience.

The bigger issue with autonomous vehicles is that they can be manipulated - either by hacking, programming interference by a government agency, or by physical environmental changes (you can corral them with traffic cones for example). No one wants to be in a vehicle that is being directed against the passenger's will. There's also the tracking concerns, but that exists these days with or without a robot driver.

 

[acptulsa]

Oh, I think we can consider the fact that when humans operate dangerous machinery, someone can be held responsible for what happens. Someone is right there. It may be a difficult matter determining if the problem was liability for negligence or guilt for a criminal act. But there's no trying to track down a hacker, for example.

 

[CaptUSA]

Oh, I think we can consider the fact that when humans operate dangerous machinery, someone can be held responsible for what happens. Someone is right there. It may be a difficult matter determining if the problem was liability for negligence or guilt for a criminal act. But there's no trying to track down a hacker, for example.

The vehicle's owner/operator still has insurance. In fact, it's likely to pay out at a higher rate due to the emotional factor and black eye to the corporation. There are LOTS of uninsured human drivers out there.

 

[Occam's Banana]

At least in RFP, we should compare the safety record of autonomous vehicles compared to the safety record of human-driven vehicles. One type of accident makes the news, while the other is such a regular occurrence people care more about the traffic implications. But yeah, it does trigger an emotional response when someone is killed by a machine. An added benefit of this type of accident, while tragic for the person involved, is that all automated vehicles will learn from it. Whereas in a human situation, maybe one driver learns a lesson from the experience.

This is why air travel has become so safe.

Many incidents, whether due to "human error" or not (and especially those involving injuries or fatalities), have resulted in often-automatized safety improvements. IOW: It is no accident (ha-ha) that flight vehicles have become significantly safer because they are so highly automated.

 

[Brian4Liberty]

A woman was found trapped under a driverless car. It wasn’t the first car to hit her

A pedestrian in downtown San Francisco was found critically injured and trapped underneath a driverless car Monday night. But it was not the first car to strike the victim.

The driverless vehicle was operated by Cruise, a San Francisco-based self-driving car company and subsidiary of General Motors (GM). Video shown to CNN by Cruise shows the autonomous vehicle was a secondary car in the collision and the pedestrian was crossing the intersection when cars had the right of way.

The video has not been publicly released by Cruise with the company citing the ongoing investigation by San Francisco authorities.
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“A human-driven vehicle struck a pedestrian while traveling in the lane immediately to the left of a Cruise AV,” said Cruise spokesperson Navideh Forghani in a statement to CNN. “The initial impact was severe and launched the pedestrian directly in front of the AV. The AV then braked aggressively to minimize the impact.” Forghani says the driver of the other vehicle fled the scene.

The video from the autonomous vehicle showed the front and left side camera angles and started when the AV is stopped at a red light, to the right of the suspect car, at the intersection of 5th and Market Streets. The light turned green and both cars proceeded through the intersection and approached a crosswalk. As the two cars approached the crosswalk, a woman was seen walking across the crosswalk despite the oncoming cars. She unsuccessfully tried to beat the manned green vehicle to the left side of the AV.

When the pedestrian was hit by the green car, she landed on the hood of the car, flipped over the roof and rolled off the right side of the car. She slammed onto the pavement and landed right in front of the AV. The AV brakes engaged as soon as she hit the pavement and then stopped on top of her. She landed parallel to the lanes. It’s unclear from the video if the front tires ran over her or if she just ended up underneath the car.
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More: https://www.cnn.com/2023/10/03/tech/driverless-car-pedestrian-injury/index.html

 

[Brian4Liberty]

The light turned green and both cars proceeded through the intersection and approached a crosswalk. As the two cars approached the crosswalk, a woman was seen walking across the crosswalk despite the oncoming cars. She unsuccessfully tried to beat the manned green vehicle to the left side of the AV.

It's entirely possible that an alert human driver would have slowed or even stopped when seeing someone in the street. It appears that neither vehicle had an alert human driver.

That being said, I have little patience for the bleeding hearts out there who continually scream about pedestrians being hit by vehicles and calling for lower speed limits, more police enforcement, and more cameras. Crossing the street is dangerous. Stepping out in front of traffic is stupid. Most of the time, the pedestrians are mainly to blame. Drunks and crazy homeless people are notorious for walking out in fast traffic.

Aren't people taught to look both ways before crossing any more?