GM’s Cruise pays more than $8 million to pedestrian run over and dragged by robotaxi

JackGreenEarth , 15 days ago

Don't get me wrong, this is sad, but no excuse to ban self driving cars. As long as they hurt less people than human drivers do, they're preferable to human drivers. Perfection is unrealistic and unnecessary.

fiercekitten , 14 days ago

I get what you’re saying and part of me agrees; we all want to see fewer injuries from automobiles and I hope the self-driving tech can get us there.

Another part of me is livid that any of us deem any amount of harm or death from automobiles as being “within acceptable limits”, especially when it’s used to justify the current problems, injuries, and deaths from self-driving tech.

Car companies could be making automobiles [for the US market] much safer for everyone but they refuse to do so. They could:

— Make smaller vehicles

— Make vehicles lighter in weight

— Stop making oversized trucks and SUVs

— Lower the front bumper height and hood height of trucks and SUVs so that pedestrians who are struck are thrown onto or away from the vehicle instead of being smashed into a 6-foot tall grille and then run over.

— Limit the max speed of the vehicles

— Cease putting touch screens in vehicles and go back to physical and tactile knobs, buttons, and switches.

Government policies and regulation could be addressing all this and more as well. Again, they refuse to do so.

kamenlady , 15 days ago

The robotaxi braked hard but ran over the person. It then tried to pull over as a safety maneuver but continued driving for 20 feet at a speed of up to seven miles per hour with the pedestrian still under the car.

What a nightmare