Obvious question: If the auto-brake can be disabled, how can you be sure it’s enabled when you need it to be? Also, if you’d disable it to “prevent erratic driving,” then how can it be said the car can operate viably when the auto-brake is engaged?
Any way you look at it, an Arizona woman is dead because – contrary to what Uber and the auto companies want you to think – cars cannot think for themselves, nor can they make split-second, life-and-death decisions on a reliable, consistent basis.The NTSB said the Uber vehicle’s sensors detected the pedestrian walking across the road with a bicycle six seconds before impact. At first, the self-driving system’s software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, then as a vehicle and finally as a bicycle with varying expectations of where the bike was headed. It was only 1.3 seconds before impact that the system decided emergency braking was needed, the NTSB said. According to Uber, the NTSB said, Volvo’s built-in automatic braking system had been disabled during testing to “reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior.” “The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action,” the report said. A video released around the time of the crash showed the safety operator glancing down toward the center console of the vehicle several times before impact. In an interview with NTSB investigators, the operator said she had been monitoring the self-driving system interface.
The pedestrian was dressed in dark clothing and was walking a bicycle across the road, not at a crosswalk, according to the report. NTSB also said the pedestrian tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana. Volvo, in statement, said it was helping with the investigation, noting its driver-assistance system was disengaged. An Uber spokeswoman Thursday said the company has worked with the NTSB and started its own review, bringing on former NTSB head Christopher Hart to advise on its safety culture. She said the company in the coming weeks will detail changes it plans to make.The only change it needs to make is a very simple one: Give up on the idea of self-driving cars. Forever. But let’s consider the issue of the auto-brake system having been disabled. Someone who is determined to defend the self-driving car concept come hell or high water could claim this points to human error. Why, they should have enabled it before they went out on the road! Sure, but the reason they didn’t is that the auto-brake was causing the car to drive erratically, probably by making all kinds of wrong determinations about what was in front of the car. About 10 years ago, Angie and I had a car with technology called “SmartTrak,” but we quickly took to calling it DumbTrak, because it caused the car to jerk around all the time, until we finally realized we could disable it and just drive the car normally.
Dan Calabrese’s column is distributed by HermanCain.com, which can be found at HermanCain
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