joaquins said:
In the other hand, self driving cars have several other systems other than sight to detect objects, for what I've seen of this case radar and ladar, I wonder if it was lacking a few thermal cameras to avoid this particular collision.
JS
This is kinda what I was getting at, regarding physics; it doesn't matter how many cameras/sensors you have, at the point of no return, even with the best software, physics takes over and the limits of vehicle braking are probably going to be exceeded. Hopefully, though, the vehicle will still be able to stop and not run over the pedestrian. But, it doesn't take much force to do serious injury.
I, myself, when I was a kid got hit by a pickup while on a bicycle that wasn't going all that fast. It was my fault, I came out of nowhere, and in front of the moving vehicle, but the pickup driver just couldn't stop in time. I'm sure he had the brake pedal through the floor, but again, doesn't matter, because the vehicle will keep going, due to momentum. And I was
told I was hit by a truck, because I woke up in the hospital couple days later, wondering where I was and what happened. Ended up with a skull fracture (
but I'm feeling much better now! 
). I still don't have memory prior to or after the accident. But, anyway, point is just a little bump and depending on how you hit the pavement could really have some disastrous consequences. I actually consider myself an expert on the pedestrian side of collisions, because that was NOT the last time I encountered a car vs. my bicycle. I've been told more than a few times my guardian angel was working overtime. Out of the other incidents I was in, just one more was a head on, and from what I gathered, looked worse than it was. I went to make a left turn, and due to an error in judgement on what the oncoming traffic was doing, ended up having to make a split second decision on getting hit by a van or a car. I chose the car, because I figured less surface area. Turned out to be the right choice. I hit the car, which was probably doing 35/40, and rolled off the hood. I checked my bike, it was bent a little, but still operational. I grabbed my box of donuts, and walked to the sidewalk. Kinda dusted myself off, and went to leave. Well, somebody called the fire dept. Everybody was telling me I was in shock. I wasn't, I felt fine, and since this wasn't the first time I had done this, I guess I was used to it. The paramedic took my blood pressure monitor, and said it was really good, to which I told him, yeah, I ride my bike a lot!! lol. He asked if I wanted to go to the hospital to get checked (I probably should have) but I said no. And then, the police officer that was there issued me a ticket, because bicycles are considered motor vehicles up here. It was my fault, but to this day, that still annoys me. It's on my permanent driving record, failure to yield. I just always had the image of being in a coma in the hospital and getting a traffic ticket. I did actually feel bad about this wreck because I'm sure I scared the sh** out of the lady that hit me. She (and others) saw me fly through the air and she thought she killed me. She even offered to pay to fix my bike.
I'm not bragging about being reckless, more of wow, I consider myself
VERY lucky, and really wonder why I'm still walking around, especially when there's people out there that can die from eating peanuts.
But back to the point of auto cars, in my opinion, in both of these situations, the self driving thing may have helped slow the collision, but it was still going to happen. The only real option in software to stop the collision is to STOP, hit the brakes. A human would probably also try to steer the car away from the pedestrian. Problem with that, in this situation, is the car in the lane next to it would prevent that. And the other side is the sidewalk, and whatever is there, fire hydrant, bus stop bench, human, nothing, whatever. Sure, software could probably make that decision as well, and probably better, because it would know if there was an empty space to try and occupy as opposed to hitting the pedestrian.
I think it'll still be a good idea to have the computer making a lot of decisions, but the total control thing , I just don't know how it could possibly happen.
I also shudder to think about all the hackers out there taking control of a vehicle. Good luck trying to stop that.
