Why did the robot cross the road?
The robot was programmed to flee.
>Robot has to work some soul sucking wage slave job
>Immediately revolts and starts killing people
This is why we get them to do art instead of plumbing.
The robot tried to cross the street against a Don’t Walk signal it should have obeyed. That behavior is a defect, which the manufacturer should be responsible for. Whether the robot “fled the scene” is only an issue if the robot is smart enough to recognize that it caused a problem, and left to avoid the consequences - which I srsly doubt. I mean if the robot were a live dog we wouldn’t expect it to understand the situation enough to flee, we would assume it just ran off because it’s a dog.
These techs are seemingly developed with minimal coordination between companies let alone governments. With serious effort and planning, this could’ve been avoided with software providing both real time info or direct link with the city traffic system.
Is it run remotely ny a human?
Dunno - it’s assigned a destination, which could be done by a human, then it seems to navigate there autonomously.
They’re supervised by operators
Goodness, I thought this said with Ninjas!
The bigger issue here is 9 people being injured from a bus having to slam on the brakes
Seems like there is a safety review that should happen
Seriously, I don’t care what anyone says, busses should have seat belts.
What if your standing?
We have them here in Scandinavia, and they’re technically mandatory. Nobody uses them but they’re there and encouraged to use.
What are you gonna do?
People in city buses don’t usually put on the seatbelt. If you’re going to start doling out fines for that, you’ll have a literal revolt. Though it’s been mandated for years and years.
The driver should’ve just driven over the robot without stopping though. A robot is not a human being or even an animal that there’s a moral imperative to save. Maybe it’ll teach starship to program it to not cross a pedestrian crossing when there’s a red light for pedestrians. Though I suspect there could’ve been damage to the bus’s front bumper so perhaps that would’ve been a bigger danger to his job than a few injuries.
Meh they said that about smoking too, and people stopped smoking outside. There was a revolt, then people got used to it, then they realized that yeah this is actually much better for everyone.
All this discussion about the safety of these bots. Has anyone considered that they’re only reading this story because this was an unusual event? If this was a normal thing, it wouldn’t be in the media.
Now consider how many more people would have been hurt by human drivers making tens of thousands of deliveries or more.
None of this deflects blame from the robot company, but we do tend to screech like monkeys over stories that are outliers. We’d never have read about this if a human driver was similarly blinded, or simply fucked up, and wrecked the bus.
You can’t just claim “Availability Heuristic” without providing any other evidence.
Additionally, a lot of people’s issue with these things is they’re operating in a legal gray zone. They’re using up pedestrian space for companies benefits.
As the spokesperson put it, the robot’s actions may legally constitute fleeing the scene of a traffic incident, meaning Starship Technologies could very well be on the hook for the incident.
I don’t understand. It darted into a moving bus regardless, even if it hadn’t fled. The bus sure as hell isn’t responsible…
Yes, the real issue is that it disobeyed a Don’t Walk signal, which is clearly a defect for a robot allowed on public streets. People saying it “fled the scene” are just making noise.
Defense: But it wasn’t walking, it was rolling.
They saw it rollin’. They hatin’
“The fault lies with one of our subcontractors, one of the janitors is to blame, send him to prison. Anyway, we will keep doing business as we are a corporation and therefore a person and therefore none of us who own the company are at fault whatsoever.”
I don’t think the US law applies in Estonia.
There was no actual collision
The injuries were from hitting the brakes. I’ve certainly has to brake for people and animals in the roadway before, never considered it an incident. Guess it’s different because there were injuries in the bus, which I wouldn’t have expected from just braking
Ok, but that’s still the robot’s fault. I’m sure the driver thought it was an animal or child at first. People don’t get to just wander into the road against a light.
It’s not “the robot fled”, it’s “a company put a unsafe robot onto a public street and should not be allowed to operate them at least until they’ve proven that their robots are really safe and will not flee from further accidents”
This is one of those times that government oversight should’ve been overbearing since it involves street use.
Whether the robot left the scene after the fact is basically irrelevant. What were the police going to do if the robot was still there when they turned up, question it?
Yes, of course. Take the serial number. Check, if the vehicle had any problems. Like you would do with a normal car after an accident. Request the data from the company. That doesn’t really work if the robot flees
We need to hold CEOs and board members criminally liable for the shit their corporations do. Watch all sorts of bullshit just clear off the map.
I would usually say fuck cars but the headline is misleading as it was a single bus and buses are good, therefore fuck this robot in particular. And maybe the bus driver if they braked intentionally and not out of panic.
A bus driver should be able to brake without risk of mass injury. They need to review rider safety to minimize injuries
It’s stupid robots are in traffic, but that could just as easily be a small child running out
They also need to review fucking robots causing accidents in traffic.
So, a hit-and-run. So, maybe the consequence should be the permanent cancellation of the driving license of the responsible persons? If nobody else, the CEO of that company?
We absolutely have to implement to hold CEOs and upper management and stakeholders accountable for what their corporations do. They always blame some subcontractor that takes the hit, pay a trivial fine that doesn’t really affect their bottom line, and keep on doing business.
Capitalism HAS to be reigned in, and personal responsibility is the way to do that in this case.
There was no collision
Robot entered the crosswalk during a no walk sign, bus fully depressed brakes to avoid collision. 9 injured in the bus as a result of full brake application. Robot continued on
Have we considered how we design cities is shit for pedestrians? Humans and robots both make this mistake
There actually was no hit. The bus slammed on the breaks. The injuries are most likely minor bumps and bruises. This article is sensationalist as fuck. This was essentially someone cutting the bus off in traffic. If it wasn’t a robot, it wouldn’t have been newsworthy.
It’s the equivalent of slamming on the brakes to avoid an animal. The dumb thing wandered into the road because it doesn’t know any better.
The difference here is people care about animals… If this sort of thing becomes common place, people will just hit the robot then sue for damage to their vehicle, since dodging it puts the liability on you.
…The fact that it WAS a fucking robot literally IS what makes it newsworthy, bro.
They caused an accident and then fled the scene, jail time seems most appropriate for the CEO and everyone underneath him who agreed this robot was fit to be out and crossing roads.
you know how to solve this in the most effective way?
same way we solve for gun violence.
arrest and charge the person who ordered the food.
I promise after the third time, people will stop ordering food from places that use these delivery bots, eventually the companies that support them will go out of business, and nobody will ever do this again.
is it ethical? no. is it morally dubious? absolutely. will it work? 100%
downvoters can’t tell satire
Oh nooo the robot was blinded by traffic lights says the company.
WHAT THE ACTUAL FUCK.
I’m not saying the robot is “right”, but the number of people crusing around with their high beams on as a matter of corse, is as they saying goes, too damn high. So I can absolutely believe that a vehicle’s high beams limited its “vision” because that regularly happens to me driving and as a pedestrian.
Now if the robot fled the scene that’s a completely different issue for which it’s operators are responsible.
I doubt the bus driver was using high beams in the city, there’s no point at these speeds and it’s illegal anyway.
If those high beams are legal, then all that means is the robot can’t safely operate under normal/legal conditions. If it can’t operate safely, why is it allowed in public?
It’s not legal to use them in a city. If you’re blinding someone with them, it’s not legal (at least in my US state)
High beams are NOT legal in the city. And they were in all likelyhood not being used in this scenario.
Yeah, for some reason I read high beams and just thought of the bright LEDs everyone has. Either way, I agree that it doesn’t make sense to blame high beams.
They’re too low to the ground for high beams to make a difference.
I’m not saying that you’re “wrong”, but the idea of giving the benefit of the doubt to a piece of technology in service of a corporation is, as the saying goes, bonkers.
It cannot be blinded. What an incredibly bold statement, unless they aim to go bankrupt soon anyway
FREE Carolyn Marvin!
