A driverless tragedy
無人駕駛的悲劇
The first pedestrian has been killed by a self-driving car
第一起自動(dòng)駕駛車輛撞死行人事故
EVERY day around 100 people are killed on America’s roads, including16 pedestrians. Each death is a tragedy, but that of Elaine Herzberg, who died after being hit by a car in Tempe, Arizona on the evening of March 18th, was a tragedy of a new kind. It was the first known case of a pedestrian being killed by a self-driving car. The accident has raised questions about whether America’s rules surrounding the testing of autonomous vehicles (AVs) are too lax.
在美國(guó)每天大約有 100 個(gè)人因交通而死亡退唠，其中 16 個(gè)為行人箱锐。每一起事故都是一場(chǎng)悲劇辫呻，但是在三月十八日發(fā)生在亞利桑那州坦佩并且造成 Elaine Herzberg 被撞身亡的卻是一種新型的事故類型躏尉。這是已知的第一起因自動(dòng)駕駛車輛導(dǎo)致的行人死亡事故蚯根。這起事故使得人們開始討論美國(guó)關(guān)于自動(dòng)駕駛試驗(yàn)的法律規(guī)定是否過于寬松。
The vehicle that struck Ms Herzberg was being tested in “autonomous mode” by Uber, a ride-hailing firm. Local police say it was travelling at 38mph (61kph) on a road with a speed limit of45mph, and that video from the vehicle shows Ms Herzberg, who was wheeling a bicycle by the side of the road, stepping suddenly into the car’s path. A human safety driver in the vehicle did not anticipate the collision and had not taken manual control. The police and federal safety bodies have launched investigations, during which Uber has suspended operation of its AVs in Arizona, Pittsburgh and San Francisco.
撞到 Herzberg 女士的車輛屬于一家名為 Uber 的專車公司胀糜，其正在測(cè)試車上的自動(dòng)駕駛模式颅拦。當(dāng)?shù)鼐椒Q事故發(fā)生時(shí)車速為 38 英里每小時(shí)（61千米每小時(shí)），而當(dāng)?shù)叵匏贋?45 英里每小時(shí)教藻，來自事故車輛的視頻顯示當(dāng)時(shí) Herzberg 正騎自行車在車輛旁邊距帅，然后突然拐到事故車輛的行駛路線上。車上的安全駕駛員工沒有預(yù)見到這一碰撞也沒有采取人工駕駛括堤。警方與聯(lián)邦安全機(jī)構(gòu)正在開展調(diào)查碌秸，與此同時(shí) Uber 暫停了在 亞利桑那、匹茲堡和舊金山的自動(dòng)駕駛試驗(yàn)悄窃。
Many American cities and states permit the testing of AVs on public roads, with varying degrees of licensing and oversight. Boston, for example, requires AVs to pass a driving test in a limited area before heading out into the wider city. California requires companies testing AVs to provide annual safety reports. Arizona is a particularly attractive environment for AV-makers, because its streets are regular grids, the weather is reliably dry and warm (snow can confuse the LIDAR sensors AVs use to scan their surroundings) and its regulators have been unusually welcoming. Since 2015, no special permits or licences have been needed to operate AVs in Arizona, though the governor announced a tweaking of the rules on March 1st.
許多美國(guó)的城市和州允許在公共道路上進(jìn)行自動(dòng)駕駛測(cè)試讥电，但許可程度以及監(jiān)督程度存在區(qū)別。以波士頓為例轧抗，要求自動(dòng)駕駛車輛首先通過限制區(qū)域內(nèi)的測(cè)試恩敌，然后才能進(jìn)入更大的城市范圍。加利福尼亞州要求自動(dòng)駕駛測(cè)試公司每年定期提供安全測(cè)試報(bào)告横媚。亞利桑那州對(duì)于自動(dòng)駕駛公司特別具有吸引力纠炮，因?yàn)槠涑鞘薪值罏榫W(wǎng)格型，氣候較為干燥和溫暖（雪可能會(huì)干擾自動(dòng)駕駛汽車用于掃描周邊的雷達(dá)）灯蝴，并且其管理者也非常歡迎這類測(cè)試抗碰。自 2015 年以來，測(cè)試自動(dòng)駕駛在此州并不需要特別的許可绽乔，盡管在三月一日政府官員頒布了一個(gè)管理辦法弧蝇。
