WaPo: Waymo robotaxi hits child at school drop-off, triggering safety inquiry
(paywall, can't even see anything, but looks like Santa Monica... will go look for better coverage locally)
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ABC7: Child struck by Waymo near elementary school in Santa Monica
"....It happened. Jan. 23 near Grant Elementary School on Pearl Street when the child "suddenly entered the roadway" from behind an SUV and right in front of the self-driving car's path, according to a statement from Waymo..... "
https://abc7.com/post/child-struck-waymo-elementary-school-santa-monica/18500922/
So, curious if here's where algorithms and sensors fail. Even if the autonomous vehicle is obeying laws, obviously, this is an area that will see a lot of pedestrians (children!) who may not understand looking twice before crossing the road, etc. etc. A good human driver would say "this is a school pickup/dropoff zone, there are lots of kids and parents milling about... I should not drive anywhere near the speed limit, and expect kids to jump out of the bushes at any time". Unclear if Waymo's algorithm accounts for those dynamics. (Most, but not all, human drivers would adjust for those conditions, and NOT be driving 17 mph even)
@ai6yr on cursory glance the road infrastructure doesn’t look that safe for an elementary school. You have to expect little kids to be crossing and sometimes doing so “suddenly”.
Could use some curb bulbs, speed bumps and a protected bike lane (not a door zone lane)
@dgodon Yeah, that door zone bike lane looks somewhat precarious. I suspect it's often double-parked during elementary school hours, not a lot of parking on that street.
You comment made it click for me, in a way it may be hadn't before, another connection between ice and AI
Basically the concept is to kick all the immigrants out of the US, and make them stay home and work here as chauffeurs and whatnot, from their home country
I suppose they'll have them operating crop picking robots, too
All of this while pretending the robots are autonomous, so they can erase the humans who are doing the work
Excuse me, I need to go get some more tin foil for my hat
> Waymo says the car "braked hard" and slowed from 17 miles per hour to 6 miles per hour before hitting the child. The company says that's faster than a human driver would have been able to brake.
they're probably correct in making this assertion, but I would be mad at humans driving 17mph in a school drop-off zone (although it happens often).
@jianmin EXACTLY what I thought.
A difficult call. Definitely see drivers around here acting like slowing to the school speed limit was a sufficient concession of their freedom. And NC won’t let you set a speed limit lower than 20 mph (without maybe some special exceptions) https://www.ncleg.gov/EnactedLegislation/Statutes/PDF/BySection/Chapter_20/GS_20-141.1.pdf.