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Backup driver charged with negligent homicide in autonomous car

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MillCreek:
https://www.npr.org/2020/09/16/913530100/backup-driver-of-autonomous-uber-suv-charged-with-negligent-homicide-in-arizona?utm_term=nprnews&utm_campaign=npr&utm_medium=social&utm_source=facebook.com&fbclid=IwAR3HcsP3CeIkML7XyGPTXYr3gaaGh0N3Sbqsv7_YJjwod5_luku_RDH21J8&fbclid=IwAR18bC2S0brg8hjSGIlknMQbM2JR_JS_a6owp35j0RZ5LZ1LcNY4Q3TdaI0

Are the charges appropriate?  She was watching 'The Voice' on her cell phone when the autonomous car ran over a bicyclist.  She was in the car to prevent this very thing from happening.

Fly320s:
Yes, the charges are appropriate, just as they would be if there was no automation in the car.  She, not the automation, was the operator of the vehicle.

K Frame:
Yep. She wasn't doing what she was supposed to do.

Basically the same as if she were texting and drove over someone on the street.

makattak:
While I agree the backup driver is responsible for the death of the pedestrian, I also have to wonder about people who jaywalk at night, in the dark, in dark clothing, and just ASSUME the car will stop for them.

The cars aren't sneaking up on you, as they are all lit up at night. What possessed this woman to just walk out in front of a car, in the dark, in the middle of a street?

https://kjzz.org/content/1618588/negligent-homicide-charges-filed-tempe-self-driving-uber-death (link with the dashcam video, which thankfully is cut just before the actual hit.)

Also, this was from 2018. Did we talk about this before?

Edit: we did. http://www.armedpolitesociety.com/index.php?topic=56967.0 And it seems I was similarly perplexed by the pedestrian, then.

TommyGunn:
I think the concept is the >>>>>person <<<<< in the car is the responsible agent for control of the vehicle,  not the Knight Industries Two Thousand wonder computer.   
If a idiot mostly bag of water blunders into the road,  and it's reasonable to believe the HUMAN DRIVER could not physically avoid hitting the idiot mostly bag of water because it blundered out from behind an obstruction,  there is no culpability to the driver,  as long as he/she stops and tries to render aid.

But,  if the driver is also an idiot mostly bag of water and is texting, or playing bingo,  and NOT PAYING ATTENTION,  and kills another idiot mostly bag of water, the driver is criminally negligent.  Even if the driver is David Hasselhoff and the car is K.I.T.T.

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