We'll never know all the necessary details of what happened from a report like this, but it does tend to reinforce my concerns about any highly complex control system working in a highly variable environment. It's all about the transitions. Simple, well defined situations are simple to manage. Reality is quite a different animal. What might have happened here is that the system didn't properly manage the transition from autonomous to human control.
I get that traffic safety is a numbers game. Autonomous vehicles might in fact save lives overall. But I am not a statistic, I am an individual - and I will resist using a technology that improves the population numbers by putting me at greater risk. An example of that is the three-point safety harness that's been around for decades. It's designed that way to be easy and quick to fasten, encouraging more people to use it and improve the population numbers. But it provides nearly zero upper body protection from an impact at the passenger side corner. (If you don't believe that, latch the inertia reel and lean toward the passenger side front fender - you'll slip right out.) I'd gladly use a four-point harness that might take an extra 2 - 3 seconds to latch, but that would (presumably) harm the population results. I'm not a complete luddite. I'm fine with ABS and fuel injection. Now. When they were new and sketchy not so much. Maybe autonomous vehicles will get to that level of reliability. I won't be an early adopter. Chris On Wed, Jan 27, 2016 at 3:20 AM, brucedp5 via EV <[email protected]> wrote: > > > 'How long will it be until human-driven cars are made illegal?' > > > http://blogs.wsj.com/digits/2016/01/21/human-driver-taking-over-from-computer-crashes-autonomous-car/ > Human Driver, Taking Over From Computer, Crashes Autonomous Car > Jan 21, 2016 ... accident occurred at 1:48 p.m. near 7th Street and Bryant > Street in San Francisco [CA] ... > > http://dmv.ca.gov/portal/wcm/connect/bc21ef62-6e7c-4049-a552-0a7c50d92e86/Cruise_Automation_01.08.16.pdf?MOD=AJPERES > (DMV accident report) > > > > > http://consumerist.com/2016/01/22/self-driving-car-gets-involved-in-crash-after-driver-takes-control/ > Self-Driving Car Involved In Crash… After Driver Takes Control > January 22, 2016 Ashlee Kieler > > Given Google’s recent confession that its self-driving cars would have been > involved in 13 crashes if a human hadn’t intervened, you’d assume that > having a real driver in an autonomous car could only help. Then you > remember > that millions of humans crash their vehicles every day, regardless of how > intelligent that car is. > Mashable reports that a self-driving Nissan LEAF owned and operated by > Cruise Automation — a company that sells after-market autonomous driving > kits — crashed into another vehicle while rolling down the streets of San > Francisco. > But unlike Google’s self-driving car that would have crashed without human > intervention, it appears the Nissan vehicle crashed because of a human. > > According to the accident report [PDF > > https://consumermediallc.files.wordpress.com/2016/01/cruise_automation_01-08-16.pdf > ], the Jan. 8 incident occurred when the self-driving LEAF began deviating > from course, swaying left and right within its lane. The driver then took > control of the vehicle, but failed to “change the path of the vehicle and > it > collided with an unoccupied Toyota Prius.” > No one was hurt in the incident, and Mashable reports that both cars > suffered minor damage. > [© consumerist.com] > ... > > http://www.allmediany.com/news/60147-driver-at-fault-for-autonomous-nissan-leaf-crash > Driver At Fault for Autonomous Nissan LEAF Crash > 23 Jan 2016 > > [video > https://youtu.be/fub5VsuYVaA > ] > > According to a DMV report in California, a self-driving Nissan LEAF > electric > vehicle has crashed. > Fortunately for the autonomous driving system, the accident occurred while > a > person was operating the LEAF directly. > However, the driver reclaimed control of the vehicle after it began to > drift > within the lane from left to right. > The crash report indicated at the point, the driver did not alter the path > of the LEAF allowing for a collision with an unoccupied vehicle. > The collision took place on Jan. 8 in San Francisco; the Prius which the > Nissan struck was parked at the time. > > > > http://mashable.com/2016/01/22/cruise-automation-crash/#LiRfubSb8EqC > Human error caused a self-driving Nissan LEAF to crash in San Francisco > [20160122] NICK JAYNES > > [image flash > ticket > ] > > Humans just keep proving how bad they are at driving. > > A Nissan LEAF electric vehicle fitted with an autonomous driving system > owned and operated by Cruise Automation, the company that produces a > $10,000 > aftermarket self-driving system, crashed into a parked Prius on Jan. 8 in > San Francisco after the human driver took driving control away from the > vehicle. > > The accident occurred when the self-driving LEAF began drifting from left > to > right within its lane. The driver then reclaimed driving control from the > car. At that point, "the operator did not change the path of the vehicle > and > it collided with an unoccupied Toyota Prius," according to the DMV crash > reported embedded below. Thankfully, neither car had more than a bit of > damage and the driver was uninjured. > > Although it seems a glitch in the Cruise system started the chain of events > that lead to the crash, the human operator was at the helm and ultimately > responsible for the collision. Clearly, I don't know what was going on at > the time of the crash. I do wonder, however, if the driver hadn't reclaimed > control of the car if the Cruise system would have prevented the collision. > After all, its sensors would have detected the car getting perilously close > to a parked car and either swerved or braked in time to prevent the crash > in > the first place. > > We reached out to Cruise Automation for comment about the collision but > have > not received a response. > > Generally, however, the incident illustrates that humans are really not > very > good at driving. After all, human error is the cause of over 90% of all > collisions, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety > Administration. > The sooner we can let the machines drive for us, the better. Unless, of > course, this happens. > [© mashable.com] > ... > http://sfist.com/2016/01/21/human_driver_taking_over_control_of.php > Autonomous Car Crashes In SF For First Time, But Human Error Blamed Again > JAN 21, 2016 > ... > > http://clapway.com/2016/01/24/nissan-leaf-crashes-on-self-driving-mode-will-the-same-happen-to-google-and-tesla-123/ > Nissan Leaf Crashes – Is There Hope for Google and Tesla? > January 24, 2016 The technology is much more complex than anticipated, and > it definitely still has room for error. Tesla ... > > > > > http://www.motherjones.com/kevin-drum/2016/01/when-will-it-become-illegal-drive-car-united-states > When Will It Become Illegal to Drive a Car in the United States? > Jan. 22, 2016 ... how long will it be until human-driven cars are made > illegal? ... > > > > > For EVLN EV-newswire posts use: > http://evdl.org/evln/ > > > {brucedp.150m.com} > > -- > View this message in context: > http://electric-vehicle-discussion-list.413529.n4.nabble.com/EVLN-Human-Taking-Over-From-Computer-Crashes-Autonomous-Leaf-tp4680084.html > Sent from the Electric Vehicle Discussion List mailing list archive at > Nabble.com. > _______________________________________________ > UNSUBSCRIBE: http://www.evdl.org/help/index.html#usub > http://lists.evdl.org/listinfo.cgi/ev-evdl.org > Read EVAngel's EV News at http://evdl.org/evln/ > Please discuss EV drag racing at NEDRA ( > http://groups.yahoo.com/group/NEDRA) > > -------------- next part -------------- An HTML attachment was scrubbed... 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