The Tempe Police Department has released video from the Uber car that hit a pedestrian on Sunday. Here’s the front-facing video at the 3.2 second mark:
By eyesight alone, there’s nothing there. And here it is one second later:
There are a few things we can tentatively say:
- The pedestrian was crossing in shadow and was virtually invisible a second before the crash. It’s unlikely any human driver could have avoided this collision.
- But the Uber car also has lidar and radar. Why didn’t those pick up the pedestrian?
- Also: one second might be too short a time for a human to react more than minimally, but it’s plenty of time for a computer. Maybe the Uber car couldn’t have avoided the collision completely, but it doesn’t seem to have reacted at all. Why?
Here’s the full video: