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Mar 28, 2017

ANOTHER UBER CRASH * USA: Dangerous autonomous cars

* Arizona - Uber resumes self-driving program three days after crash

 (Video from america today - Mar 25, 2017 - A self-driven Volvo SUV owned and operated by Uber flipped on its side after a collision in Tempe, Arizona) 

 --- Uber Technologies Inc put its self-driving cars back on the road on Monday, voicing confidence in its autonomous vehicle program three days after one of its cars was involved in a crash in Tempe, Arizona... Uber wrapped up a brief investigation and cleared its autonomous cars to resume driving in the three cities where it operates a self-driving pilot program - Tempe, San Francisco and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania - an Uber spokeswoman, who declined to be named, told Reuters... A driver and an engineer were in the front seats of the Uber Volvo SUV at the time, a standard requirement for the self-driving cars. The back seat was unoccupied... Experts in autonomous vehicles say crashes involving such cars will happen, but as autonomous technology improves so too will the safety of everyone on the road... 
Tempe, AZ, USA - Reuters, by BHeather Somerville and Gina Cherelus - 27 March 2017

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Oct 4, 2016

TESLA's Autopilot crashes again * Canada - "The autopilot didn't work”

* Ontario - The Autonomous Report: Cheap LIDAR is on the way and truckers may be in trouble


--- Another Tesla has crashed while in Autopilot mode. The incident occurred in Germany. According to a news report a 50-year-old driver's Tesla hit a tour bus as the bus changed lanes... Driverless autopilot systems have “come under global scrutiny following fatal crashes in northern China in January and in the US state of Florida in May ... The driver in Wednesday's crash told “police that he had not removed his hands from the wheel while the autopilot was activated, German press agency DPA reported” ... Could the drive be found not guilty, and liability end up on Tesla? ... A report in the tech press notes that cheap versions of the light sensing technology known as LIDAR will be key to the future of AVs and some are close to coming to market... So far, according to the report, the “size, complexity, and cost of the current generation of LIDAR sensors are significant obstacles”. The sensor itself weighs more than 13 kilograms and costs US $80,000” ... But the company has just announced a new product that will be good to 200 metres, weighs only 600 grams and could cost just $500 (if produced at typical automotive industry scale)... 
(Photo: Tech entrepreneurs have proposed a 'self-driving highway' to run between Vancouver and Seattle)   --  Toronto, ONT, CAN - The Collision Repair Mag, by Jeff Sanford - October 2, 2016

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Sep 21, 2016

DRIVERLESS CARS & NEW TRAFFIC LAWS * USA

* DC - Obama Administration rolls out recommendations for driverless cars

--- Transportation Department trying to head off conflicting local rules and spurring adoption of technologies that could reduce traffic deaths... The Obama administration on Tuesday will roll out guidelines that urge car makers and other developers submit to a 15-point ‘safety assessment’ outlining how driverless cars are tested, safeguards in the event of a system failure and how vehicles are programmed to comply with traffic laws. The guidelines also expect firms to detail plans to prevent vehicle hacking... U.S. officials are hoping to spur companies to share data on crashes, detail their latest systems to regulators and take steps to ensure technologies are traffic-ready. Current regulations set out specific safety standards for seat belts, brakes and other traditional systems envisioning human drivers. The latest autonomous-vehicle guidelines largely lack specific benchmarks and delineate areas for companies to share and submit information... While the path toward regulation is still hazy, the new guidelines are an endorsement by regulators of a safer future with cars driven by robots and not people. The recommendations give auto makers and technology companies a firmer sense of regulators’ expectations, indicating they should aim to comply with uniform safety guidelines rather than a patchwork of state regulations... Regulators will investigate and urge recalls when systems pose unreasonable risks to safety, officials said... The development of driverless cars has sparked a technological arms race among traditional car manufacturers, technology titans and Silicon Valley startups. But hurdles with infrastructure, regulations, and clarity on legal liability could slow down adoption... U.S. officials are attempting to balance encouraging adoption of promising technologies that researchers contend will cut traffic fatalities while ensuring they’re safe. Traffic deaths topped 35,000 in 2015, according to government figures, largely because of human error... 
(Photo by STEPHANIE STRASBURG/The WSJ - A self-driving Uber hybrid Ford Fusion drives through Pittsburgh on Sept. 12) -- Washington, DC, USA - The WSJ, by MIKE SPECTOR - Sept. 19, 2016

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Oct 3, 2014

AUTONOMOUS TRUCKS * USA: Laws may slow they

* New York - Self-driving or caravanning technology


NY,USA -Go By Truck -September 30, 2014: -- Several companies, including Mack and Peterbilt, have debuted self-driving or caravanning technology for the trucking industry, but legal and liability issues may prove to be roadblocks to their innovations. A recent report from ABI Research indicates that legislation will have to come a long way in order to address the new circumstances surrounding autonomous vehicles... The report examines existing legislation, concluding that in the United States, California is leading the way. It looks at areas where new laws may be necessary, including parking, testing new equipment, vehicle collisions, public and private roadways, and other mandates. The second half of the report tackles liability questions, including “liability of things” and "collective liability"...

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Mar 10, 2013

When Autonomous Cars Collide ... Who's At Fault? * USA

* Vaccines... (??) Could Provide An Answer 

(Photo: The founders of Google and one of their autonomous Toyota Prius hybrids)
-The Car Connection, by Richard Read -Mar 8, 2013: ... In the mid-1980s, British researchers issued a study that potentially linked the diphtheria–pertussis–tetanus (DPT) vaccine to neurological damage in children. Although the study was later discredited, parents around the world panicked. Here in the U.S., several sued the manufacturers of DPT vaccines and won sizable settlements... Not surprisingly, those manufacturers became worried, threatening to scale back research and development efforts. In turn, health officials began fretting about preventable diseases spiraling out of control... In response, the U.S. Congress launched the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program in 1988. According to an article in the New England Journal of Medicine: "The funding for paying successful claims regarding vaccines administered before 1988 came from the U.S. Treasury. For claims regarding later vaccinations, funding comes from a patient fee of 75 cents per vaccination. The VICP trust fund currently contains more than $2 billion" ... That's an interesting model. On the autonomous car front, buyers could pay a fee (presumably more than 75 cents) that would go toward a fund, which would pay damages to persons involved in accidents in which autonomous vehicles were at fault...

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