TheOneWithTheHairDriverless Cruise car runs over woman hit by another driver
JoBoShould the Cruise car have not started moving if there was a person still on the crosswalk? This whole sad affair raises many questions.
There are some questions but “should cars start moving while a person is still on the crosswalk?” is surely not one of them.
A different question I have is whether or not the cars have transponders or other communication devices to automatically call emergency services in case of accidents. I’m assuming not because they would probably have a lot of junk calls and I doubt the company would have spent the time to create an algorithm for when to call 911 if they didn’t create an algorithm for what to do if there’s a pedestrian in a crosswalk.
That’s one of the big downsides of these driverless cars: if a human accidentally ran over the victim, they have the capability to get out of the car to assess the situation, call 911, and offer aid to the victim. An empty car can only ever just sit there with its hazard lights on and maybe call for emergency services.
The auto-driving company should be required to have something like an on-star operator available any time the vehicle receives an impact/shock above a certain threshold and any time physical safety measures are required. The local governments should not have to pay for the externalities created by these 'disruptive technology' jerks, especially when there are literal lives on the line.
ChozoCruise has this. I actually applied for the position after my contract doing the same thing with Waymo ended (but was unfortunately ghosted). They've got a team of people who monitor the fleets in real time, mostly just helping a "stuck" car by identifying any objects or street signs that the SDC has been confused by, so that it can proceed with its course. But they also have protocols in place for reporting any collisions as soon as they've happened, as well. Willing to bet that Cruise called emergency services before anybody on the scene even did.