March 21, 2018

Tempe Police Release Video of Uber Pedestrian Collision

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:

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

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And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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