This study presents the outcomes of empirical investigations pertaining to human-vehicle interactions involving an autonomous vehicle equipped with both internal and external Human Machine Interfaces (HMIs) within a crosswalk scenario. The internal and external HMIs were integrated with implicit communication techniques, incorporating a combination of gentle and aggressive braking maneuvers within the crosswalk. Data were collected through a combination of questionnaires and quantifiable metrics, including pedestrian decision to cross related to the vehicle distance and speed. The questionnaire responses reveal that pedestrians experience enhanced safety perceptions when the external HMI and gentle braking maneuvers are used in tandem. In contrast, the measured variables demonstrate that the external HMI proves effective when complemented by the gentle braking maneuver. Furthermore, the questionnaire results highlight that the internal HMI enhances passenger confidence only when paired with the aggressive braking maneuver.

The backup Uber driver for a self-driving vehicle that killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in 2018 pleaded guilty Friday to endangerment in the first deadly crash involving a fully autonomous car. Arizona state judge David Garbarino, who accepted the plea agreement, sentenced Rafaela Vasquez to three years of supervised probation for the crash that killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. Vasquez, 49, told police that Herzberg "came out of nowhere" and that she didn't see Herzberg before hitting her on a darkened Tempe street on 18 March 2018. Vasquez had been charged with felony negligent homicide. The charge to which she pleaded could be reclassified as a misdemeanor if she completes probation. Authorities say Vasquez was streaming the television show The Voice on a phone and looking down in the moments before Uber's Volvo XC-90 SUV struck Herzberg, who was crossing with her bicycle.

Apple's development of a self-driving car has proven arduous and massively challenging for the company. The Information today published an extensive chronology of the project so far. It covers some familiar ground for anyone who's been following Project Titan over the years, like a revolving door of leadership, high turnover across the team, and shifting goalposts around what Apple is even trying to accomplish with the large effort. But the report goes beyond recounting the project's history and stumbles. The Information also reveals some interesting new details.

Waymo is now operating fully driverless cars in more than one city. The Alphabet-owned brand has started trials of self-driving Jaguar I-Pace EVs in San Francisco with no backup drivers. The tests are limited to employees hailing rides in the company's early service area, but this still represents a major milestone -- the company claimed in a message to Engadget that it was the first anywhere to offer autonomous ride-hailing in two different territories. You'll also see an expanded footprint in Arizona. Waymo said it will expand fully autonomous rides to downtown Phoenix, starting with employees.

Imagine Elon Musk getting dragged to trial every time a Tesla car runs a red light? Well, watchdogs around the globe are proposing legislation to hold the manufacturers accountable, and not the human behind the wheel, in the event of offences involving self-driving cars. According to Annual Global Road Crash Statistics, around 1.35 million people die in road crashes each year globally. Around 3,700 people lose their lives daily on the roads, the research said. In India, around 375,000 accidental deaths were registered in 2020, of which 35% were in road crashes, data from National Crime Records Bureau showed.

Signs of very early-stage commercialization are emerging from the corporate science projects that want to remove human drivers from vehicles. Alphabet's Waymo seems furthest ahead with its "robotaxi" project in the suburbs of Phoenix Customers used to have to sign a nondisclosure agreement to hail a ride with no backup driver, but Waymo opened the service up in October. Motional, a $4 billion joint venture between South Korean car giant Hyundai and automotive supplier Aptiv, said last month that it will take safety drivers out of its taxis that operate on the Lyft LYFT 3.77% platform around Las Vegas "in the coming months." Cruise Automation, the driverless-car business controlled by General Motors, GM 1.92% has said it would remove backup drivers from its cars by the year-end. Cruise runs vehicles around busy San Francisco, but without passengers or cargo.

Everyone knows about the fatal 2018 crash in Tempe, Arizona where an Uber SUV driving in semi-autonomous mode failed to avoid hitting Elaine Herzberg as she was walking her bike across a darkened street. This past September, 2 years later, the "backup" driver was charged with negligent homicide by a Grand Jury. The first issue I will address might seem like the biggest, but only from a marketing and stature perspective. In playing a game of who has advanced AI more than anyone else in current month, tech companies have been allowed to make broad claims in the media that help drive traffic to websites and build market share (which we might call brand politics). Fast and loose with details is par for the course, but as these companies often live from one round of funding to the next, it allows for a culture within the workforce of "just getting results."

Waymo is allowing the general public to hitch a ride in its driverless autonomous vehicles in Phoenix, expanding a service it had been quietly offering to a select group of riders for the past year. The service launches to the general public Thursday. The vehicles, which will have no back-up drivers behind the wheel to take over in sticky situations, will serve an area of 50 square miles. There won't be anyone watching remotely who can take over in an emergency and drive the car. Before the coronavirus struck, which reduced demand for rides, Waymo was providing 1,000 to 2,000 rides in autonomous vehicles per week.

It has been more than two years since one of Uber's autonomous SUVs struck and killed Elaine Herzberg in Tempe, Arizona. Last year one group of prosecutors (from another county due to a conflict of interest in the area where the crash happened) decided they would not file criminal charges against Uber, but on Tuesday a grand jury in Maricopa County charged the vehicle's backup driver with negligent homicide. County attorney Allister Adel said in a statement that "Distracted driving is an issue of great importance," as a report by police and investigation by the NTSB said Rafaela Vasquez was streaming The Voice on Hulu while sitting behind the wheel of the vehicle. Tempe Police Vehicular Crimes Unit is actively investigating the details of this incident that occurred on March 18th. We will provide updated information regarding the investigation once it is available.

Autonomous vehicles were supposed to make human drivers obsolete. But the coronavirus pandemic is exposing how a technology designed to be human-free still relies on a large workforce of contract laborers at almost every level. The Verge reached out to 10 autonomous vehicle developers to find out what they were doing in response to the coronavirus outbreak. Almost all of them said they would be grounding their fleets for at least several weeks as they monitor the spread of the virus. But the fate of human backup drivers who ride around in the vehicles is less certain.