This new information may increase the responsibility ofUber in the fatal accident involving one of his autonomous vehicles. On March 18, as part of a test on US highways, a Volvo Modified XC90 spilled a woman in the city of Tempe, Arizona. A video published by the local police shows the victim crossing the road at night and outside the pedestrian crossing before it is hit by the autonomous car.
According to the American media The Information, this accident would not be the result of a defect of detection of the sensors of the car. The system would have detected the passerby but he would have chosen to ignore this parameter to not endanger the driver.
The passerby detected as a “false positive”
Why did the system react that way? According to The Information, the victim was categorized as a “false positive”. This category applies when the autonomous car thinks of seeing an obstacle or a human but which represents no danger: an object on the road or even a passerby motionless on the sidewalk. When the autonomous car detects a “false positive”, it continues on its way to not endanger the people on board by braking too abruptly.
Here, it is this part of the system that would have failed. An investigation by the National Bureau for Road Safety is still under way United States to determine Uber’s liability in the accident. The company has already stopped its tests on autonomous cars. Beyond Uber, this accident has an impact on the other actors of automotive innovation.