Here we go. Autonomous vehicles are now mowing down cyclists.
I hope that Waymo’s insurance is good!
That car being driverless could have saved their life.
It also sounds like it’s a situation that even a human driver wouldn’t have been able to avoid. Until the tech can see around corners and through solid objects, this kind of thing is still likely to happen regardless of who or what is driving.
When I don’t see what’s coming because there’s a semi truck in the way, I wait.
When an automated car sees a gap, it dives in.
Can we get the hyperbole out of here? If OP had actually read (and understood) the article they would have seen it was one of those confluence of events that no one could see coming. As soon as the car detected the cyclist it hit the brakes and the cyclist had minor injuries.
Basically, this car didn’t mow anyone down and did exactly what it was designed to do and attempted not to hit anyone.
As soon as the car detected the cyclist it hit the brakes and the cyclist had minor injuries.
Had you read (and understood) the article, you would have seen that police have no details about what caused the crash, so you’re basing your assessment entirely on what the company said happened.
They have a certain level of damage-control to contend with, so no doubt they won’t be admitting negligence.
I think the cyclist only walked away with minor injuries because of the low speed of the accident (the car was allegedly coming off a stop sign) and vehicle type. But I also think it should have it seen or anticipated the cyclist and stopped sooner, especially at such low speeds.
Unless, of course, the claim is that the cyclist hit the car, and not the other way around.
I guess we’ll know when Waymo hands over the ride footage. Hopefully, they comply and not withhold it like their competitor did.
Can’t wait until a guy that loses the ability to use their legs because they got demolished by a self driving cat has to defend themselves against corporate lawyers for daring to exist next to their infallible automated driving car.
To be fair, the article is trash. There’s details in other publications, like Reuters:
"Waymo said its vehicle was at a complete stop at a four-way intersection when a large truck crossed the intersection in its direction. At its turn to proceed, the Waymo car moved forward.
However, the cyclist, who was obscured by the truck which the cyclist was following, took a left turn into the Waymo vehicle’s path. When the cyclist was fully visible, the Waymo’s vehicle braked heavily, but wasn’t able to avoid the collision, the company said."
Drafting through an intersection is not very safe (I really should stop doing it myself) because of this exact visibility problem. Heck, it seems our cyclist friend cut left because they couldn’t see the waymo car either.
Watch out when crossing busy intersections, folk! Cars are bulky and opaque. Yield when encountering busy intersections.
‘Waymo said’
You need to be better. The article says there was a passenger in the car, I’m sure they can and will testify as to exactly what happened.
Again. This wasn’t a mowing down of anyone and it was a situation that even human drivers wouldn’t have been able to avoid.
I’m accepting that statement from waymo at face value until given reason not to. There are likely witnesses including the aforementioned passenger. Waymo is the one who called the cops. You need to take a breath and stop letting your hatred of vehicles larger than a bicycle color your take on things. It’s not healthy and it will lead to stress based health issues down the road.
The above said. You have a nice day now.
I’m sure they were completely paying attention to what their car was doing like every time one of these things happen.