this post was submitted on 04 Oct 2023
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[–] [email protected] 36 points 2 years ago

Oh, this company is not doing itself any favors.

There needs to be full transparency on these fleets rather than having governments bend over backwards in the name of trade secrets. We’ve gone absolutely too far in that direction with everything from vehicles on our streets to fracking chemicals in our groundwater.

[–] [email protected] 26 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

We desperately need footage of this to make any conclusions.

The human driver hit her first, and knocked her into the neighboring lane...

So she was hit and flung into another lane...

...directly in front of a Cruise autonomous vehicle (AV) that was driving around by itself with no-one on board. The self-driving car then ran her over and came to a stop on top of her body, turning on its hazard lights. Her leg was pinned down by the back tire.

So it stopped Like others have mentioned, driving over someone under a car can cause more injury than not moving. Was she screaming to move forward/move back? Was she flung in a way that a human driver could have stopped in time?

If this was just a hit and run and there was no footage like what was provided by the ai car it could be that the victim or her family would be 100% on the hook for the medical bill. It will be interesting to see if the perpetrator is found and the footage surfaces with details so we can get some answers.

edit: From another article

The initial impact was severe and launched the pedestrian directly in front of the AV.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

I'm hoping that the car has multiple cameras recording so maybe the hit-and-run driver will be caught and prosecuted. That said, unless I misunderstood the article, I think the driverless car (DC) didn't do a horrible job here. It sounded like the victim was struck and flung in front of the DC and it stopped (unfortunately on top of her). I don't know if I could have reacted better. The article wasn't clear but it read like the car contacted the police and the police instructed it to remain where it was, which is what I would have done if I were driving a car. The DC was then lifted off the woman by emergency personnel. We can't expect DCs to be magically perfect. Just like we don't expect people to be perfect. A DC is only as good as it's programming. Hopefully this incident will be studied and if a better solution is found that can be integrated into the DCs operations. I really feel bad for the woman here. I don't know but even if she shouldn't have been walking no one deserves that. Let's hope the hit-and-run driver is caught.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 2 years ago (2 children)

How relieved the original drive must feel

[–] [email protected] 12 points 2 years ago (2 children)

One of my son’s coworkers was just killed in a similar incident. Woman hits a pedestrian, she freaks out and calls her boyfriend instead of emergency services, boyfriend arrives and runs over the injured pedestrian ensuring he was dead.

They are unsure which vehicle actually killed him.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

Cupid's arrow was dead on target however.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago

I hope both of them are getting brought up on first degree murder charges for that.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 2 years ago (1 children)

”The driver of the other vehicle fled the scene, and at the request of the police, the AV was kept in place.”

Hopefully not while still on top of her!

[–] [email protected] 10 points 2 years ago

If you get stuck under a car the fire dept is going to come lift it off of you. They aren't going to try and drive it off that would almost surely cause further injuries.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 2 years ago (1 children)

Well, if she survives, she’s rich!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

Ugh. So jelly.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 2 years ago

Oof for that edge-case, in every sense. I hope the victim recovers with no long-term consequences. Truly horrific.

[–] [email protected] 8 points 2 years ago (1 children)

They're already turning on us!

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago

There was a Futurama episode about this day...

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago (3 children)

Reminds me of someone I knew that would keep a pint of Jack in his trunk. He drove drunk constantly and it was there for when if he ever got into an accident he was prepared to run out of the car, pop the trunk, and pound the bottle in front of all the witnesses.

Can't prove he was drunk at the time of the accident.

[–] [email protected] 20 points 2 years ago (4 children)

There is zero chance that would work.

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago (1 children)

There's a low chance of that working...but it's not zero with the right legal team.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 2 years ago

With the right legal team you can kick the police in the balls and piss on their car and get away with it.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (1 children)

I know I’ve read of at least one successful case where the person fled the scene and went home, then claimed he was drinking at home. Honestly, though, there’s so many things that factor into whether an individual gets arrested or released that we’d need more examples to differentiate between just letting someone go and This One Simple Trick Judges Hate.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

Fleeing the scene is completely different than chugging alcohol at the scene.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

With a half competent lawyer it could.

It's up to the police to show you were driving while intoxicated. You have witnesses corroborating that you were drinking after the accident. Any field sobriety, or blood test they give you would be worthless because it would be after that.

I'm sure someone has tried this before somewhere.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

"I wasn't drinking and driving, officer. And I'll prove it by drinking out of this open container!".

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

Holy shit that was close. I gotta relax, having ptd issues. Must self medicate...

[–] [email protected] 6 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

This kind of thing has been repeated amd handed down for like a century. But I've never ever heard of anyone actually doing it, much less having it work.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 years ago (2 children)

It might work depending on how much your lawyer costs

[–] [email protected] 4 points 2 years ago

At that point anything works.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago* (last edited 2 years ago) (1 children)

That sounds like a terrible legal defense. Yes - I had alcohol in my car, and I was pounding it at the time of the accident. But trust me, I was totally sober when I actually hit that person.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 2 years ago (1 children)

It's up to the police to prove you were drunk while driving. Normally that's not hard since they can show that between them getting to you, field so riery testing, and taking you in there's no way for you to have had a drink before they take a blood test for instance. But if you break that chain, there isn't a good way to prove that it wasn't from after the incident.

Ah but you didn't just have alcohol in your car. That's totally legal, otherwise you would never be able to drive home from a store with alcohol. You even have witnesses stating you got it from your trunk, so even if it was already open, it could not have been within reach while driving. Which is a component of most open container laws.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

It’s up to the police to prove you were drunk while driving.

Actually, its up to the prosecution to prove you were drunk while driving. And that standard is 'beyond a reasonable doubt', which I'm pretty sure 'pounding liquor after an accident to have plausible deniability on your insobriety' would make an easy argument to meet that threshold.

The cops will take you either way and let a judge decide what to do with you.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 2 years ago

You might not be able to prove it, but anyone willing to chug alcohol in front of witnesses to have that kind of plausible deniability can easily be assumed to have already been drunk to start with. That just doesn't seem like it would hold up to the 'reasonable doubt' standard...

[–] [email protected] -3 points 2 years ago

shave and a haircut, two bits!

[–] [email protected] -4 points 2 years ago

It was just protecting her like a dog would.

Whose a good car!? That's right, you're a good car!