3 At-fault accidents involving Robocars and what they mean

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In a short period we saw 3 at-fault accidents involving robocars (with one being purely the fault of the safety driver) and we're going to see more. We're going to have to learn how to deal with them, to tell the difference between serious error that says a team has deployed too early, and the accidents that will happen with miles because perfection is not a possible goal.

Read more about it at Forbes.com in 3 At-fault accidents involving Robocars and what they mean

Comments

Brad
Good column as always. I believe the Toronto shuttle was not in automated mode at the time of the crash. While still not going very fast, I was told by friends in Toronto, that it followed a bizarre path until it hit the tree. The Olli uses a stick to control the vehicle. This always struck me as very shaky. No word on how long the operator had been on the job.

You are correct in pointing out that an inherent advantage of auto taxis is the ability to provide smaller vehicles rather than standard buses (or even worse, articulated buses) that may be full for one or two runs a day. I worry that the large infrastructure bill will encourage transit authorities to continue to manage their systems by minimizing costs per seat mile rather than costs per passenger mile.

Have you seen the press release from my friends at Robotic Research? I think they are the only profitable North American AV firm.
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20211208006171/en/Robotic-Research-Announces-228-Million-Series-A-Funding-Round-to-Scale-Autonomous-Technology-Commercially
Fun times
Dick

Everybody knew that commercial vehicles were a quicker path to profits -- but not to the brass ring of changing personal transport. At first, all people do with the tech in commercial vehicles is remove the cost of drivers, which is economical but not world changing (except perhaps for the driver.) It's when you get to changing the nature of transit (with small vans) that something interesting happens.

Let me know if you learn more about the Olli. I did not think it was usually operated in steered mode.

bmw iX in Reutlingen by Stuttgart

BMW iX on B28 roadway from Zainingen in the direction of Feldstetten.

In a long right-hand bend after the Salzwinkel ski lift, the BMW suddenly came into the oncoming lane

This car had no self-driving systems. It does have lanekeeping, it is unknown if that was on or not. It was just being driven on a family errand with a small child, not for business. Tragic, but unrelated to self-driving.

www dot 7aktuell dot de report is with many photos

Bild dot de tv has tele report on youtube of crash

On youtube for bild dot de

Autonomes Fahrzeug verursacht tödlichen Unfall Römerstein

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