Remember the 2018 Uber-Volvo’s fatal collision?
In the first-ever fatal accident involving a self-driving/fully-autonomous vehicle, the autonomous vehicle’s sensors failed to detect a pedestrian. The safety driver too failed to detect or react to the pedestrian leading to the collision. The investigation conducted by the National Transportation Safety Board determined that the driver was distracted at the time of the collision.
This unfortunate event is a reminder that, even in the era of autonomous/self-driving cars, Human Factors like human error and distracted driving still play important roles in determining safe and effective human-vehicle interactions.
#HumanFactors #Distraction
Reference
New York Times (2020). Driver Charged in Uber’s Fatal 2018 Autonomous Car Crash. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/15/technology/uber-autonomous-crash-driver-charged.html
