Not Writing About Uber AV Killing - okay just a little rant

Responsibility for road deaths and injuries goes way beyond Uber, but that doesn't mean that Uber is not responsible when the evidence is showing that at 10 p.m. in Tempe, AZ, Elaine Herzberg was in full view of the Uber autonomous vehicle (AV). Certainly Uber should feel the pain if it indeed placed any driver or vehicle on the road that were incapable of safe operation on a public road.

But there is plenty of room for responsibility - blame, actually - to go around.

Streets designed for death

We have streets that are designed for speeds exceeding the speed limit. Almost every otherwise law-abiding person who drives does so at rates above the legal speed limit. From early reports, Uber's software had learned or been taught to replicate this unfortunate and unsafe human practice.

And deaths and injuries are so completely foreseeable because they happen every day some place in the US and around the globe. We are all responsible because as a society, we Americans have not pushed for a truly safe and multimodal transportation system and we have acted as if roadway deaths are a routine cost of living.

Pedestrians unsafe almost everywhere

Our outrage over the Uber killing should extend to ALL pedestrian deaths, most of which garner little or no news coverage. People walk, bike, and roll wheelchairs on the side of roads or across roads - without any or adequate traffic signals or intersection or mid-block crosswalks - because there is no option if one travels in most US communities without a car or light truck.

We have prioritized one mode of travel and one skill for operating one kind of machinery to such an extent that there is almost no other choice in most places, whether for transit, intercity bus, walking, biking, or ridehailing.

And it's crappier for people with disabilities

Imagine what it must be like to be blind, cognitively impaired, or to rely on a wheelchair in a country where, for the most part, outside of a limited number of neighborhoods in major cities, one is a second or third-class citizen in terms of accessing jobs, education, and even medical care, if one does not drive or have family with the resources and the flexibility to play chauffeur.

I do not know anything about the deceased Elaine Herzberg or how she came to be homeless and walking on an Arizona road late at night with her bicycle and other belongings, but I do know that like people walking, biking, or rolling wheelchairs along other other roads across the US, Ms. Herzberg found herself on a road in Tempe, AZ, that was not made for walking or any other mode except one.

Sun shows through clouds and music begins

I hope and I advocate that as part of the safety improvement AVs will bring with its transportation revolution and its billions in investment that we will spend some money on ensuring that our roads are safe for all modes and that we create a transportation network that is much more accessible to non-vehicle owners and drivers than it is now.

End of rant - for today.

The Russians, Chinese Are Coming in Driverless Buses, Pods

Russia plans to introduce a driverless bus. So far, it has been tested, presumably at low speeds, on private roads, such as campuses. The bus is low floor, and therefore accessible (I presume), and runs on electricity. No confirmation if the bus will be launched during the 2018 soccer World Cup games. Warning: Even insomniacs will fall asleep to this video.

Toronto wants driverless buses, or at least little shuttles

Though driverless vehicles - sans drivers - are not yet legal in Ontario, Toronto council members are hatching a plan for driverless transit. They will meet in mid-July to consider a report to plan driverless transit. Toronto was one of the first cities to designate a staff person to begin to look at the transformation that driverless transportation will bring.

Intel + MobilEye + BMW = ?

The three companies: a chipmaker, driverless player, and a traditional high-end car company, are teaming up. The question is whether the deal will push BMW ahead in the driverless car race. Bloomberg did a nice summary. More speculation and details are provided by Android Headlines (AH). I have not seen anything yet that would make me believe this is a game changer. 

Baidu chooses Chinese town as third of 10

Baidu has chosen an ancient Chinese town, a tourist magnet, for a driverless project with a route system. The company, known as the Chinese Google, is planning to introduce driverless vehicles to 10 cities. The ancient town of Wuzhen is the third to be announced. There is no date set for the launch of the demonstration projects.

Tesla fatal crash

To all of us who did not know the victim, the Tesla crash heard round the world is a piece of information, something to be fixed. To me, personally, the fatal crash demonstrates the dangerous and disingenuous game that the partially driverless vehicle plays. Human drivers, such as the victim, himself a big fan of his beloved Tesla autopilot, get lulled into complacency with each day's safe trip. One day, when daydreaming, watching a movie - as the "driver" was reportedly doing - or just staring out the window, but hardly paying attention to the road, the human is not driving or thinking about driving, when an instant you-must-pay-attention-right-now situation presents itself. We humans are not generally good at the split second jolt to action. The crash occurs before the driver knows what is happening, in that split second when he or she is processing information, before action is taken.

While Mobileye and Tesla hash out who was responsible in the press, presumably continuing into the courts unless the victim's family is placated with lots of money first, I hope that NHTSA, which will investigate, will take the opportunity to impose a black box requirement for driverless vehicles and also consider the great risks of the combination of the partially driverless vehicle and the human who is supposedly ready to drive.  

My condolences go out to the family of Joshua Brown. His death is a great sorrow to his family and friends. May they be comforted by memories of him.