Waymo Defends Self-Driving Cars in Wake of Fatal Uber Crash, Says Its Cars Could’ve Handled It
Tensions are running sky-high among self-driving vehicle operators in the wake of a crash by a self-driving Uber that killed a pedestrian in Arizona, as people are wondering whether self-driving cars are a good idea, after all, particularly since the Uber reportedly didn’t even brake significantly before hitting the woman.
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So, in a bid to sooth worries about self-driving cars in general, John Krafcik, CEO of Waymo, Google’s self-driving vehicle unit, has said at a gathering of the National Automobile Dealers Association that his company’s cars would have been able to handle the situation and not hit the woman.
Specifically, he said, “All that we can say is based on our knowledge of what we’ve seen so far… and our own knowledge of the robustness that we’ve designed into our systems… in situations like that one—in this case a pedestrian or a pedestrian with a bicycle—we have a lot of confidence that our technology would be robust and would be able to handle situations like that one.”
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These remarks certainly hang Uber’s self-driving program out to dry, but these certainly aren’t the only clothespins on the line, as LIDAR producer Velodyne has disavowed any fault by claiming its sensors should have seen the woman prior to the collision, and Arizona has taken the step to officially cut off Uber’s self-driving testing in the state.
News Source: Jalopnik
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