Google says it's bear "some responsibility" after its self-driving car struck a public bus on a Silicon Valley street, a fender-bender that appears to be the first time one of the tech company's vehicles caused a crash during testing. No one was injured, according to an accident report Google wrote and submitted to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. According to the report, Google's car intended to turn right off a major boulevard when it detected sandbags around a storm drain at the intersection. http://bigstory.ap.org/article/4d76...elf-driving-car-strikes-public-bus-california
Despite assurances a human will always be able to regain control, in practice it will be an all-or-nothing affair. One major if not the major point of driverless is to allow occupants to engage in more 'useful' activities like reading or preparing a business report or watching a movie etc. Hence if the AI decides to suddenly swerve off the road or brake savagely, at way above 2mph, lack of occupant situation awareness guarantees it would be too late to override in time. The uptake of 'driverless' is going to be a very gradual and selective affair. Plenty of work for lawyers ahead no doubt.
No, it shouldn't. The Google car is required to yield to the bus in that situation. Actually, when pulling into an adjacent lane (and that's what it was - those situations with a turn width built in are de facto lanes) one is supposed to yield to whatever's already there. If you're driving straight ahead in your open lane at a reasonable speed and somebody pulls over into the side of your car, it's not your fault. And buses are even more entitled - in my town, they even have the right of way when it's them pulling out. It's cool that it detected sandbags and knew how to drive around them, though. I can see those things being reasonable after a while, in places with modern streets and no winter etc. Am I the only one charmed and amused by the tone of voice of the Google folks? - they sound just like somebody who screwed up and hit a bus - "well maybe it was sort of my fault, but can't you see I was pulling out there? You don't even slide over a bit? geez. Buses act like they own the place"
The way it came down to me was: "Anyone who thinks anything is foolproof has seriously underestimated the fools around here."
