Robotic Uber got in an accident

Cars with automatic control systems on public roads are already quite a lot. Especially - in the USA, the state of California, where the legislation is changing in favor of the developers of such vehicles. Robo-mobile manufacturers claim that after replacing conventional cars with robotic ones, the latter will help reduce the number of accidents on the roads.

Basically, due to the fact that the computer is able to react very quickly to emerging problems in the form of people crossing the road, inadequate neighbors-drivers, who decided to change lanes at the last moment and other dangers. And, indeed, there are few accidents involving robobiles on the roads. Although, of course, there are incidents with machines with automatic control. One of the accidents occurred at the end of February in Pittsburgh. About it became known only now.

This machine belongs to the robotici service from the company Uber (it also launches the commercial freight service using robotic trucks). So far, it is not entirely clear who exactly is to blame, since the testimony of the service representatives and the driver who drove the vehicle that had crashed is quite different.
')
A car with a conventional control system was driven by an American, Jessica McLemur, a mother of three children. At the time of the accident, she was on the four-lane Liberty Avenue. At the same time, Uber with a robotic control was moving towards it. There were almost no other cars on the road. The woman says that she turned on the left and saw that a turn signal started to work on the other car, indicating movement to the right. But something went wrong, both cars collided, the results of the accident can be seen in the photo below.



After the accident, MacLemour began to discuss what had happened with a representative of Uber. The fact that the car of this company is autonomous does not at all mean that the car drives with an empty cabin. According to state law, a romo mobile must have a professional driver in the cabin, who will take control in the event that something goes wrong. During a dispute with the driver, the woman shot and then uploaded a video on her Facebook.

In the video, the company's driver confirms that at the time of the accident his car was under the control of the autopilot, he also says that both cars almost simultaneously turned the turn signals. The collision occurred because the driver Uber did not expect that someone would start to rebuild and then turn.

Uber representatives have so far refused to comment on what happened. But there is one nuance - the company claims that the ro-mobile activated a turning signal, but it was the left, not the right turn signal. He turned on as the mobile was prepared to change the lane.

According to the rules, the driver should closely monitor the road while driving, analyzing traffic and trying to understand what is possible and what cannot be done at the time of the maneuver. Before you turn on the turn signal, the driver must make sure that in the area of ​​his car there are no other cars or other obstacles that can be encountered.

According to the woman driver of the injured car, she cannot reach Uber and get at least some information about insurance. MacLemour claims that Uber has not contacted her since the accident. “I can't contact anyone. I have no answers regarding the damage done to my car and it is unclear who will compensate for the damage, ”she said.

Now there is a trial, the results of which are closely watched by both the representatives of the automotive industry and the media. Accident robotic cars attract the attention of journalists and ordinary people because they rarely happen, and then the public tries to understand exactly who is to blame for the accident. To the credit of developers of autonomous machines, it should be said that smart machines rarely become the culprits of the accident. Most often, the fault lies with the person.

That person is to blame for most of the accidents with Tesla. Yes, they cannot be called completely autonomous, but there is an autopilot system. Despite the company's warning to drivers not to rely on Autopilot for 100% and not to take their hands off the wheel while driving, drivers hardly follow the advice.

For example, in the US last year, a Tesla lover on a favorite electric car had an accident, the outcome of which was a sad outcome - a man died on the spot. The problem was that the truck trailer faced by the electric car was white, and the Tesla computer did not recognize it, confusing it with part of the landscape. The driver’s problem is that he didn’t follow Tesla’s recommendations and relied entirely on the autopilot of his car, ignoring danger warnings.

Another example is an autonomous car from GM collided with a motorcycle in San Francisco.

So far, the proceedings in the current case are still ongoing. It is necessary to think that we can understand whether the roads will become safer, only when there are a lot of robotic vehicles. So far, all this is only isolated cases that do not provide a complete understanding of the situation.