Quote:
Originally Posted by lvmensch
Likely true but not relevant. The family knows nothing. What Uber does not want to have to do is discovery. Bet there are lots of fascinating emails and such inside Uber. Even the NTSB will have trouble penetrating the internal Uber discourse...which would be vulnerable in discovery. In fact the first thing the attorney is going to do is put Uber on notice to maintain its correspondence.
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According to an acquaintance:
Looks like part of the cause of this accident is that Uber skimped on lidar sensors:
https://www.theregister.co.uk/2018/03/28/uber_selfdriving_death_may_have_been_due_to_lidar_ blind_spot/
The optical system still should've seen the woman, although their range is much shorter and even if it had, the car almost certainly still would've hit her after a couple seconds of braking.
Uber willingly and recklessly violates the law as a regular part of their business plan.
Just because they covered their ass and got someone to sign something doesn't mean they are not liable
- They knowingly did not include safety items necessary for the safe operation (like lidar)
- They hired a driver not qualified to do the testing required
- They apparently required that driver to collect data that meant taking their eyes off the road
- They removed the second person (necessary for the safe operation of the vehicle) from the vehicle to save some money
- They put a vehicle on the road at night which was completely incapable of operating under the road conditions (dark)
- They owned and operated a vehicle for commercial purposes without maintaining control of the vehicle.
- Reckless endangerment
- Speeding (premeditated)
- I am unfamiliar with Az law, but it is highly unlikely that vehicle was not breaking several more laws.
What they did was every bit as intentional and egregious as what VW did. They screwed up, and have responsibility. Their software is incapable of doing what they claim it can.
The driver should also sue them. They broke a lot of federal OSHA regulations putting someone behind the wheel of a machine that endangered them.