In the Weeds on NTSB Uber Report and House Hearing

What I Learned This Week

We may be a society of social media images, tweets, and sound bytes BUT there is much to be learned when you get into the weeds of something that most people, even professionals, do not have time for. On today's menu is the NTSB preliminary report on THE Uber crash and the Congressional hearing about insurance and business models for autonomous vehicles (AVs).

Drumroll please for the preliminary - meaning "don't quote us quite yet" - NTSB report on THE Uber crash that killed Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, AZ., on Sunday, Mar. 18, 2018.

As background, let us remember that Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey signed an executive order in August 2015 putting out the welcome mat for driverless vehicles to operate in the hot and sunny state without a person present, though with a licensed driver, either physically present or remotely able to take over operation (though, to be fair, that latter part was not explicitly stated).  THE Uber crash could have occurred elsewhere, but Gov. Ducey was the unlucky AV proponent for whom the fates aligned to get mud on his face for pushing a developing technology, failing to provide oversight, and shouting out loud about getting out of the way of the inherently innovative private sector, and, in particular, a company such as Uber, which has made a name for itself by harassing women and treating laws and regulations as pesky and irrelevant. Gov. Ducey thus somewhat arbitrarily received the punishment of media attention for being the governor of the state where the first pedestrian - meaning innocent person who did not assume the risk of engaging with what was said to be an AV - was killed by a technology that was supposed to see and brake for people.

Well, turns out, and I would bet the Governor and others, including me, were not quite aware,  the automated operating system responsible for hitting and killing Ms. Elaine Herzberg was not quite autonomous. That technology was unable to operate the vehicle without human assistance. In fact, the car was outfitted with a system that was more auto assist, similar to the Tesla Autopilot system, than AV. But let's allow the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) preliminary report to speak for itself.

As one twitter person said, and I forget who, NTSB employs the rather outdated word "accident" instead of "crash," thus undermining the hard work of many transportation writers and professionals to acknowledge that roads designed for speed and lack of pedestrian access are inherently and foreseeably dangerous places where crashes will occur.

Key quotes

The vehicle was factory equipped with several advanced driver assistance functions by Volvo Cars, the original manufacturer. The systems included a collision avoidance function with automatic emergency braking, known as City Safety, as well as functions for detecting driver alertness and road sign information. All these Volvo functions are disabled when the test vehicle is operated in computer control but are operational when the vehicle is operated in manual control. ...

As the vehicle and pedestrian paths converged, the self-driving system software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, as a vehicle, and then as a bicycle with varying expectations of future travel path. At 1.3 seconds before impact, the self-driving system determined that an emergency braking maneuver was needed to mitigate a collision (see figure 2). 2 According to Uber, emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control, to reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior. The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action. The system is not designed to alert the operator.  ...

The inward-facing video shows the vehicle operator glancing down toward the center of the vehicle several times before the crash. In a postcrash interview with NTSB investigators, the vehicle operator stated that she had been monitoring the self-driving system interface. The operator further stated that although her personal and business phones were in the vehicle, neither was in use until after the crash, when she called 911. The NTSB continues to gather information on the Uber self-driving system, the vehicle interface, and the driver’s personal and business cell phones. 

Those quotes do not make me feel better, rather I feel like the Governor dropped the ball and Uber basically lied to the people of Arizona as well as the broader public and maybe even the driver/operators - who are now, by the way, out of their jobs - about what kind of vehicle was actually being operated on public roads.

NTSB does not address the inequitable and unsafe situation of Ms. Herzberg, who, like people all across America every day, walked across a road without benefit of a stop sign or traffic signal. Instead NTSB leaves for others to consider the prioritization of motor vehicles above other road users and the dangerous design of roads where 100-plus pound people walk and two-ton machines speed.

House hearing shows lots of bipartisan and public, private consensus and concern

Looking for a House of Representatives subcommittee hearing that carefully considers the future, displays bipartisan respect, and demonstrates concerns that cross not only the aisle between Democrats and Republicans, but also between public interest organizations and private companies? Look no further than this week's Housing and Insurance Subcommittee Hearing Entitled “TheImpact of Autonomous Vehicles on the Future of Insurance.” If you are interested in this topic, the approximately one-hour hearing is fascinating. (Don't be put off that the video says it is approximately two hours. The first hour is dead air and the actual start at about one hour begins with apology for the delay.)

Presiding was Wisconsin Congressman Sean Duffy, Chairman of the Financial Services Subcommittee on Housing and Insurance. He is a Republican from a rural district, but, like many in his historically progressive state, Rep. Duffy clearly sees the future and the significant role that regulation will play. He even said right out during the hearing that most of his staff doesn't even own a car and that the shared mobility/transit lifestyle is the wave of the future.

Highlights taken from my twitter coverage during my day-late viewing of the video:

One congressman suggested federal regulation of insurance and declared truth that ridehailing will control vehicle market when AVs come - greatly changing insurance industry. 

Insurance companies continue to back state regulation insurance business. They are accustomed to that. 

House hearing on AV insurance not mentioning transit or AV shuttles, how these are already on roads. Talking as much about partial automation as complete automation. Much on data needed.

Wow moment at 1 hr, 28 min into House hearing. @StateFarm insurance rep tells how tech, auto companies are resisting even talk of states requiring AVs with event data recorders (EDRs).

There was lots more, with the Congressional questioners, the insurance industry representatives, and the lone representative of the world of safety public interest advocates concurring about the necessary role of insurers and the changes inherent in combining operation of the vehicle with the vehicle itself. Like much of the public and media reports, there was much conflation of partial and full AV technology.

And here's another twitter tidbit, this one demonstrating my shock about the NTSB preliminary Uber report: OMG, NTSB prelim rpt says Uber was testing equivalent of Tesla autopilot, calling it full AV (lulling human driver/backup into complacency?) and killing an innocent pedestrian on road ≠ #completestreets. Don't blame the pedestrian.