Uh Oh! Self-driving Uber cars to carry passengers

[BobbyJones]

https://www.yahoo.com/news/uber-auto...70.html?ref=gs


After reading this I thought about the legalities of this down the road (no pun intended). Especially as a cyclist.

Once these vehicles become truly autonomous, where does the burden of responsibility lie in the case of an accident?

I’m sure auto manufacturers and corporations can push legislature through making this doable, but what are the repercussions in the case of an accident? Where does the culpability lie?

It’s bad enough fighting with insurance companies in the case of accidents. Can you imagine getting another few layers of corporate evasion involved?

[christian]

I will take a robot over a coffee-swilling, iPhone-texting, suburban Range Rover pilot any day. Yes, I, for one, welcome our new robot car overlords.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Preach it, man. I love robots. And I don't say that just because I know they're listening.

[p nut]

Yeah, at least it means not dealing with distracted drivers. Just don't wear this jersey, though.

[CampyorBust]

No thanks.

[Cicli]

Originally Posted by christian

I will take a robot over a coffee-swilling, iPhone-texting, suburban Range Rover pilot any day. Yes, I, for one, welcome our new robot car overlords.

Froome is driving for Uber now?

[Mark McM]

Well, for one thing, a software algorithm is likely to drive more predictably than a human ...

Let's just say that self-driving car drives a little worse than the average human. Sounds like it would make cycling more dangerous, right? But maybe not. Not all humans drive exactly on average - most drive close to average, plus or minus some amount; some drive much better than average; and some drive much worse than average.

As we know, the majority of human drivers don't present a danger to cyclists, the danger comes from just a few really bad drivers. If all self-driving cars drove 10% worse than average, they would still be safer than those really bad human drivers - the ones who do pose a danger to cyclists.

[cp43]

Originally Posted by christian

I will take a robot over a coffee-swilling, iPhone-texting, suburban Range Rover pilot any day. Yes, I, for one, welcome our new robot car overlords.

My thoughts exactly. The autonomous car will be looking for cyclists (and other cars, kids, trees, etc) constantly. Based on what I see driving to work, we're lucky if most drivers look up from their phones often enough to see other cars, let alone cyclists.

[BobbyJones]

My OP wasn't about if self-driving cars are better / worse than human drivers.

We all get in an uproar when a driver injures or kills a cyclist with seeming little to no legal repercussion.

With the assumption that if there is no human operator involved in an public setting (versus a controlled facility) and there is an injurious or fatal accident involving one of these vehicles (and there will be) where does the liability point?

My personal thoughts are that if you think we as cyclists and pedestrians got it bad now, just wait.

That's all.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by christian

I will take a robot over a coffee-swilling, iPhone-texting, suburban Range Rover pilot any day. Yes, I, for one, welcome our new robot car overlords.

I'm with you. They are coming. It isn't the robot cars that I'm worried about. It is the millions of people who make their livelihood driving vehicles everyday that I am worried about. I'm not sure there is a modern example that would compare to the economic displacement that is about to happen.

That said, we continue to face more crowded roads because we are growing in population faster than we're building roads. Perhaps technology is how to best dope with that, as building roads is pretty expensive, and we're already bankrupt as a nation.

Please see my fancy pictures below as evidence.

[seric]

I see nothing but benefits:

a) Ride sharing and transportation on demand will reduce the number of vehicles on the road, as well as reduce parked vehicles allowing for more room for cyclists.

b) Self driving cars will have plenty of data points to provide evidence for and determine fault in accidents.

c) I believe self driving cars are already much better drivers than the average person behind a wheel in any country I've visited.

d) I suspect the need to worry as much rather or not the car is insured will largely be nullified. I do not believe self-driving cars will be privately owned in anything but very rare cases. And fleet insurance will be well tracked.

e) Liability issues as indicated are not a foreign concept, and are already being dealt with. In some cases such as with Volvo, the manufacturer is contractually taking responsibility for any at fault accidents on behalf of the owner. In other cases, it's most similar to if someone gets injured on your property. If a homeowners property caused an injury, the homeowner is at fault and could potentially go after a contractor or other vender after the fact if some external workmanship or materials were at fault. This would not impact the ability of the injured to receive their claim in the meantime.

[MattTuck]

Originally Posted by seric

d) I suspect the need to worry as much rather or not the car is insured will largely be nullified. I do not believe self-driving cars will be privately owned in anything but very rare cases. And fleet insurance will be well tracked.

Also, think of all the people who make their livelihood in the auto insurance industry. They'll be displaced also.

[ColonelJLloyd]

Originally Posted by MattTuck

It isn't the robot cars that I'm worried about. It is the millions of people who make their livelihood driving vehicles everyday that I am worried about. I'm not sure there is a modern example that would compare to the economic displacement that is about to happen.

Not sure what those people are going to do either, but I suspect the truck drivers and package delivery drivers won't be replaced until much later than the cabbies/uber drivers.

Originally Posted by MattTuck

Also, think of all the people who make their livelihood in the auto insurance industry. They'll be displaced also.

What should we do after we think about it? Some jobs that don't require much analytical thinking or "human touch" are just gonna disappear. I mean, there used to be a whole lot more travel agents than there are today. I don't know what those folks are doing now, but I've never thought we should do something to protect that industry just because "jobs".

[raygunner]

I just read this article about self-driving cars:

https://backchannel.com/self-driving...618#.uni5icwmm

[seric]

Human progress has always in large part been measured in our ability to use tools to make our work more efficient. From making tools out of rock to the combustion engine, all of these things had huge impacts on old definitions of skilled labor. It's lazy and selfish to bemoan such advances. It's the responsibility of all to constantly strive to find better uses for ourselves, no system in nature works via stagnation.