Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Accident

Re:Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Accident by drawkbox on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @10:24PM (#16645072)

Arizona and Tempe especially have lots of darker roads. The LIDAR/computer vision tuning at night doesn't seem right. Maybe it was adjusting for the changing street light brightness but yes this is one situation and the vehicle had just come from the Mill bridge that has festive lights that are strung along the bridge [1].

This is a situation though where the LIDAR should have clearly been better than it was. Maybe it was in a strange state after having seen all the lights and then complete darkness, looks like they were headed north on Mill Ave over the bridge [2] just past the 202 where it is indeed very dark at night and probably the spot right here [3] which matches up with the building in the background, the other way is South and is busy/urban by ASU. They had just crossed a lit up bridge, then dark underpass, then into this area [3]. The area that it happened in [3] does have bike lanes, sidewalks and a crossing sidewalk close by [4] but is by a turn out so not a legal crossing however there are lots of trails through there.

This video is worse than expected by far and may be forever harmful to the Uber brand in terms of software.

In AZ I usually see the self-driving cars out in the day, maybe there is lots of night tuning/work to do yet.

[1] https://i.imgur.com/kwxjW36.jpg

[2] https://goo.gl/maps/ey1RA47tKBJ2

[3] https://goo.gl/maps/gpugzAZKxcS2

[4] https://goo.gl/maps/Ni18GfjMP962

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Re:Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Accident by cozzyd on Wednesday March 21, 2018 @10:50PM (#16645245)

What the heck are those trails doing in the median if it's not a legal crosswalk?

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Re:Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Accident by baking on Thursday March 22, 2018 @12:06AM (#16645642)

I've been staring at those myself for a couple of hours. My best guess is the crosswalk was moved, but the paths were left. There's a lake nearby and tons of parking under the overpasses, with trails and picnic areas.

Also, the woman was right under a working street lamp. And as was stated in an earlier article the car continued on at 38 mph after the accident. The bike ended up 50 yards down the street.

EDIT: "That spot is east of the second, western-side Mill Avenue bridge that is restricted to southbound traffic, and east of the Marquee Theatre and a parking lot for the Tempe Town Lake. It can be a popular area for pedestrians, especially concertgoers, joggers, and lake visitors. Mid-street crossing is common there, and a walkway in the median between the two one-way roads across the two bridges probably encourages the practice."

"Pedestrians can cross a street without using a crosswalk in many instances without risking a jaywalking ticket, but Arizona law requires pedestrians not using a crosswalk to yield to traffic in the road."

http://www.phoenixnewtimes.com/news/cops-uber-self-driving-c...

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Re:Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Accident by Piskvorrr on Thursday March 22, 2018 @05:46AM (#16647180)

There's a saying "a sign is not a wall." You can make dangerous things illegal all you want (such as "not overdriving your headlights," hint hint), but it won't stop people doing that. "But that person was not supposed to be there" is a rather weak excuse for manslaughter.

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Re:Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Accident by drawkbox on Thursday March 22, 2018 @03:28AM (#16646532)

Lots of parks around and trails that do go across the road, it is an odd area.

If you zoom out on google maps you will see some of the trails. Note the sidewalk/pathway, it is no pedestrian but has paths for them so it sends mixed signals.

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