1st – At TruckUSA.com you get a FAST instant cash offer, we buy trucks, and our sole purpose is for you to sell your truck to us. All opinions are my own (writer) and do not in any way reflect TruckBuyerUSA.com’s opinions or views. I just brought this up on the blog last week. That dreaded pit in your stomach, devastating nightmare came to fruition. No, it didn’t involve an autonomous truck, nor was there a hack – that I know of since this is still under investigation by authorities, but non-the-less, this is a tragedy that anyone could have predicted and possibly prevented. On Sunday, in Arizona, an Uber autonomous fatal pedestrian involved car crash occurred in the night. Will a self-driving tractor-trailer be next?
Image Credit: Mercedes Benz
In Tempe, Arizona, a routine Uber autonomous car test drive - turned to everyone’s nightmare. Uber routinely tests their self-driving cars after dark to observe the response of their vehicles in more challenged environments. Of course, a safety ride-along operator was at the wheel hands free monitoring the cars operation. So, what happened? What was the “monitor” monitoring? Why didn’t the car’s sensors – assuming it has these – sense a person, object, motion, etc. in its path and react accordingly and safely? What are the setting indicators of said objects? How much time did the vehicle and the “monitor guy” have to react before the car crash? Would there be the same results in a big box truck? Would there have been a truck crash? You know an autonomous truck is no joke and the damage it could do is unthinkable. I can’t imagine an autonomous tractor-trailer’s destruction and devastation. Did it turn a corner and it all happened faster than anyone or the autonomous car could respond as required and expected? These are just a handful of questions I have, there are so many more.
Autonomous developers, manufactures, and testers, this is a big fail at its worst. This should have been avoided at all costs, and not have happened. I shouldn’t be sitting here writing about a pedestrian being struck while crossing the street and dying on the way to the hospital. I should only be focused on your technological successes, not tragedies related – yes, tragedies because this is the 3rd reported death involving autonomous vehicles. All of us send our deepest sympathy to the victim’s family and friends. We are very sorry for this tragedy and your loss.
Uber is fully cooperating in the investigation by the Tempe, Arizona police, and the mayor is diligently looking into the accident combing through city and state regulations. Arizona seems to be company’s favorable state for their lenient laws and rules when it comes to experimenting and testing technology, according to a recent Bloomberg interview.
“In Tesla’s Florida crash, the car was purchased by and used by the victim. In the Arizona crash, the vehicle was a test vehicle under the control in every sense by Uber, and the victim was an ordinary person.”
~Bryant Walker Smith, Professor, USC School of Law
When asked if Arizona’s fatal crash will shake the public’s confidence in autonomous technology and set its progress to date back, Smith went on to say,
"It will set consumer confidence in the technology back years if not decades," said Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington-based advocacy group. "We need to slow down."
What do I think about autonomous vehicles, especially a tractor-trailer on the road? I’m still on the fence and do not want to be involved in a truck crash that supposedly wouldn’t happen. I NEED to see the facts of compulsive off-road testing in a strictly controlled environment. Dig through accident report, test the “that’ll never happens”, schedule it in the worst climatic conditions, test each during the day and at night, during rush hour, during quiet times, in fabricated neighborhoods with unexpected objects forced in the path of the vehicles, and any other scenario you can think of. Then, maybe just then, test it on the roads.
Note: TruckBuyerUSA.com did NOT provide me with direction or information, nor did they request I write a post on my views.
Directly from Tesla’s website:
“Safest Truck Ever
Enhanced Autopilot helps avoid collisions, a centered driver position provides maximum visibility and control, and a low center of gravity offers rollover protection.”
That’s a very bold statement. If you’d like to see their technology advances on wheels, go check them out and read about them. I will say this, it’s impressive.
If I lived in Arizona and I saw an autonomous truck or car anywhere near me, I’d probably freeze out of fear. I’d be afraid I’d be the one to prove “it’s safer than a truck driven by a hands on the wheel driver” wrong, but can you blame me after Sunday in Arizona? Uber, your autonomous fatal pedestrian car crash has me so much more fearful of this technology than last week. I never want the answer to “will a self-driving tractor-trailer be next?” I’d rather sell my truck to Truck Buyer USA, order everything I need online, and have it delivered right to my front door. Which reminds me, when you’re thinking you could use extra cash or just want to get rid of your truck, we buy trucks in any condition – even if it’s been in a truck crash – anywhere in the continental United States, running or not. If “sell my truck” crosses your mind, sell your truck to us! Our process is FAST, SAFE, and EASY! We’ll give you the highest instant cash offer you’ll find anywhere else on the web and you’ll get it in as little as 20-seconds! We don’t mess around! Fill out our short 2-step process and get cash in your bank FAST!
