Why artificial intelligence does what it does

A self-driving car operated by Uber struck and killed a woman last week in Tempe, Ariz. Few details have emerged, but it's reportedly the first fatality involving a self-driving vehicle. In January, a Pittsburgh car crash sent two people to the hospital; the accident involved a self-driving Fusion from Ford-backed Argo AI. The Fusion was hit by a truck that ran a red light, and at the last second, the human backup driver reportedly took the car out of autonomous mode and took control of the Fusion's wheel. Could these crashes have been avoided?