Re Report: Software bug led to death in Uber's self-driving crash

["Dave Farber" <farber () gmail com>]

Right on


Begin forwarded message:

> From: Mary Shaw <mary.shaw () gmail com>
> Date: May 8, 2018 at 4:50:17 PM EDT
> To: Dave Farber <dave () farber net>
> Subject: Re: [IP] Report: Software bug led to death in Uber's self-driving crash
>
> The telling paragraph:
>
> "Uber had been racing to meet an end-of-year internal goal of allowing customers in the Phoenix area to ride in 
> Uber’s autonomous Volvo vehicles with no safety driver sitting behind the wheel," Efrati added.
>
> It has been known for a long time that things can go badly wrong when nontechnical considerations are allowed to 
> interfere with "the technological practitioner's first duty: utter probity toward the engineered object -- from its 
> conception through its commissioning for use". See, for example, the rich set of case studies in Arthur Squires' "The 
> Tender Ship" -- published in 1986 
>
> > On Mon, May 7, 2018 at 8:49 PM, Dave Farber <farber () gmail com> wrote:
> >
> >
> >
> > Begin forwarded message:
> >
> > > From: Lauren Weinstein <lauren () vortex com>
> > > Date: May 7, 2018 at 6:27:41 PM EDT
> > > To: nnsquad () nnsquad org
> > > Subject: [ NNSquad ] Report: Software bug led to death in Uber's self-driving crash
> > >
> > >
> > > Report: Software bug led to death in Uber's self-driving crash
> > >
> > > https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2018/05/report-software-bug-led-to-death-in-ubers-self-driving-crash/
> > >
> > >      The fatal crash that killed pedestrian Elaine Herzberg in
> > >    Tempe, Arizona, in March occurred because of a software bug in
> > >    Uber's self-driving car technology, The Information's Amir
> > >    Efrati reported on Monday. According to two anonymous sources
> > >    who talked to Efrati, Uber's sensors did, in fact, detect
> > >    Herzberg as she crossed the street with her bicycle.
> > >    Unfortunately, the software classified her as a "false
> > >    positive" and decided it didn't need to stop for her.
> > >    Distinguishing between real objects and illusory ones is one
> > >    of the most basic challenges of developing self-driving car
> > >    software. Software needs to detect objects like cars,
> > >    pedestrians, and large rocks in its path and stop or swerve to
> > >    avoid them. However, there may be other objects--like a
> > >    plastic bag in the road or a trash can on the sidewalk--that a
> > >    car can safely ignore. Sensor anomalies may also cause
> > >    software to detect apparent objects where no objects actually
> > >    exist.
> > >
> > > - - -
> > >
> > > --Lauren--
> > > Lauren Weinstein (
> >
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