An autonomous bus ferrying passengers along the Las Vegas Strip was less than two hours into its first day when it got in a fender-bender. The accident has already been blamed on human error on the part of the truck driver, but now questions are being raised about what the autonomous bus could or should have been capable of doing to prevent the crash entirely.
Las Vegas has had self-driving shuttles operating with no issues for the past year or so, but this specific bus was driving a new 0.6-mile route along the Strip. It holds 12 passengers at a time and one attendant who, according to one Digital Trends reporter on the bus at the time of the accident, is just there to make people feel comfortable. The bus also has no gas pedal, no brake pedal, and no steering wheel.
About an hour into its first day, the bus came up behind a tractor trailer. It stopped and waited, but the truck was backing up into an alleyway on the left-hand side of the street. As it backed up, it very slowly came closer and closer to the bus. So slowly that the reporter inside the bus had time to get out and take photos as the accident happened.
“The shuttle just stayed still,” said one passenger according to The Guardian. “And we were like, it’s going to hit us, it’s going to hit us. And then it hit us.”
The side of the truck bumped into the bus as it was backing up. No one was injured and only minor damage was sustained on the front bumper of the bus.
According to the bus passengers, the mirrors on the truck were visible the whole time he was backing up, so the driver should have been able to see the bright blue vehicle behind him.
After the accident, the truck driver was found at fault and ticketed.
“Unfortunately the delivery truck did not stop and grazed the front fender of the shuttle,” said a statement from the city of Las Vegas. “Had the truck had the same sensing equipment that the shuttle has, the accident would have been avoided.”
But even though the driver was found at fault, some people are asking what the company responsible for manufacturing the bus, Keolis North America, could have done differently.
The Digital Trends reporter suggested that a human driver in the same situation might have backed up to avoid the truck or honked on their horn. But it appears that while the bus did everything it was programmed to do, it hadn’t been programmed to back up under those circumstances and the human attendant didn’t have access to a horn.
It now looks as though the National Transportation Safety Board may be weighing in on how the autonomous system could have handled the situation differently. NTSB investigators were dispatched to the scene of the accident last Friday.
Source: gobytrucknews, truckinginfo, engadget, reuters, theguardian, digitaltrends
Shogun says
It’s like that kid at the University of Missouri who ran up to the lead car in the parade and jumped in front of the lead car’s bumper then claims he was hit. The driver should be partially at fault for not seeing the ugly bubble looking POS shuttle, but when backing into a tight alley off a road, he was concentrating on not hitting the buildings. He never expected to have someone pull six inches from his truck. I would be willing to bet that US Foods truck makes deliveries to that restaurant multiple times weekly just fine and backs down that alley to unload since he can’t unload on the street. These autonomous vehicle’s ability to not make any rational decision by stopping is the danger. Will it do that in a rain storm or snowstorm and kill people because it was being super safe and stopping?
AJ says
Personally I never back in off a street unless I have a signal person. I tell them straight up get your safety vest and come stop traffic.
I have never had anyone refuse. Safety has to be top priority for a professional driver .
James says
GOAL. the professional truck drivers bible. Driver is always at fault regardless of how close the stopped vehicle is! if the stationary object is visible in his/her mirrors he is just not a good driver
Jon says
The photographer had enough time to get out and take pictures? Why didn’t he make an extra effort to make sure the truck driver was aware of the bus?
Ronnie Lee says
That was my first thought when I read this article. If you have time to time a picture. You have time to prevent an accident.
William Paul McKechnie says
He only wanted news. If he had stopped the truck he wouldn’t have got the picture or the story.
Steve Volkle says
William I couldn’t have said it better myself
BRODERICK DUNNIGAN says
Right there and then the government should say don’t bring that back to us that show you right there it goin to kill alot o people if they care about the public
Rick says
Care about the public, that’s funny!
Forrest Hayes says
Sometimes backing up slowly and hoping those behind you back up is the only practical solution.
Daniel says
As I was reading this all I could think of was a human driver would have honk the horn and saved everyone that headache. Of course farther down in the article it covers that. Frankly, I believe its only a matter of time before this automated stuff is actually responsible for killing people. You can not program the human ability for gut feelings and experiences. How many times a day does one driver think that something might happen and drive differently or be prepared for what might happen to avoid a collision? The answer: It should be everyone because that’s what defensive driving is. Will the bus recognize a reckless and dangerous driver and keep itself back away from that driver until that driver is well out of sight? I bet not. It’s programmed to keep a schedule while not hitting anything. That’s it. Just because the error is someone else’s doesn’t mean the bus is good – a human could have avoided the collision. It takes PEOPLE to communicate. Its not that humans make mistakes and automated machinery doesn’t – it’s about humans, for example, and if one makes a mistake the other can do something to prevent a collision. This automated garbage can not do what it needs to to prevent the collisions from happening when someone makes a mistake .
Joshua Weiser says
What’s to say that the on board computer can’t be hacked. If it has a computer it can be hacked and programming could be changed
Lance FontanneSr says
Yes, you’re right. When I drive in heavy congested traffic I do not follow closely, and am ready for another truck to have to do such things such as backing into an alley or drive …. this automated crap has gone way too far, especially when that vehicle does not have any manual control, such as mentioned, no steering wheel or pedals. Once they start this junk with no manual override, that’s when ALL computer junk fails miserably.
Luis says
How good are humans at communicating? Honestly? We can’t agree on a damn thing, including when to put up holiday lights. There should be no fear of autonomy, we need to communicate with each other to create a better governing body moving forward, not one focused on greed.
Shogun says
You realize fully autonomous trucks are the emobdiment of greed don’t you?
LukeWarm says
The biggest fear of autonomy should be the people it’s putting out of work.
AJ says
Well said.
John Mowery says
This is never going to work well, not as long as you have the motoring public driving at the same time as these autonomous vehicles that don’t react as a person would it really is a terrible terrible situation
RaginBull69 says
That’s the life of trucker problems! I do have to admit that it’s part if his fault for not checking his mirrors to see that bus but….. have any of us been to the Las Vegas strip to make deliveries?? I have!! And it is sometimes hard to maneuver a big rig into these small ally ways!! It’s not easy when you got all sorts of people and cars all around you not to mention a tiny ally way that barely fits a big rig! They should make it a law that no big rigs are allow to enter the Las Vegas Strip area so that way the hotels or our truck companies can’t force the drivers to make deliveries!! They should be doing that anyways as a pre caution just in case of a terror attack!!
robin says
“has no gas pedal, no brake pedal, and no steering wheel.” I think that this is the biggest problem with autonomous vehicles. If you need to move out of the way as in this example, miss a pothole, or just tweak it a little, you don’t have that option.
if it was a closed route, that is a different story
Terry says
I believe that I have read somewhere that the most common tractor trailer accident involves backing up. The driver is definitely at fault. He probably anticipated that the shuttle was human operated and assumed it would move. As a 20 yr trucking veteran, it is easy to understand how your impatience elevates in a setting such as this. I have backed into many alleyways in the crowded streets of the New York Burroughs, it can be stressful. But, as a trained professional it’s my job to never assume that anyone will make it easy for me. There is a reason G.O.A.L. is stamped on nearly every side mirror. And yes, I have had to get out of my tractor and tell people to move.
There will be more more flaws in the autonomous vehicle era, but isn’t there always a trial and error period with new technology. Problem found, time to modify!
And I couldn’t help myself, but when publishing in a public forum, please learn the spelling of at least the major cities in America. Especially when Las Vegas has had its share of media coverage in recent weeks.
Robert c. Lewis says
With all of the news on the development of autonomous vehicles there has been no mention of those so-called autonomous vehicles operating in snow, icy roads, black-ice,… the time has come to GET REAL! Testing autonomous vehicles needs to include operation not just on dry roads but roads covered I snow, patchy ice, black-ice, combined with unfavorable winds…
Robert c. Lewis says
With all of the news on the development of autonomous vehicles there has been no mention of those so-called autonomous vehicles operating in snow, icy roads, black-ice and combined with unfavorable winds.
Bob says
Why do we the human people need this automated drivers?? Just to get rid of another human paying job!!! Some day there wont be any human paying jobs. What then???
William says
Hypothetically, If the truck was a tanker filled with fuel, everyone could have died. NO COMMON SENSE HERE!
There must be a human driver with the ability to take control if needed. PERIOD!!!
David says
G…O…A…L!!!
Tom says
How do you know he didn’t get out an look and then started baking had the truck jacked and the bus pulled into blind area
J Carter says
It’s what I said. “Will coders been able to think of this?”
There are just way too many variables to permit vehicles of any large size to operate under full autonomy.
Mack says
Therein lies the problem. I bet a professional and experienced bus driver was not the one programming the bus. It will be the same with trucks. A College educated zit faced kid knows nothing about real world situations. It will be done by trial and error.
Donald Mickunas says
I agree that the accident was preventable. I even agree that the truck driver was partially responsible. However, The bus had the last opportunity to avoid the accident and failed to do so. Had a human driver been in the bus, that driver would have been held responsible. However, how can one ticket a machine? Did this robot pass a required test for a class B CDL with a passenger endorsement? If not, then there is no way to know if it is even minimally qualified to operate that vehicle.
Jerry says
Funny how just about every single comment here acknowledges that the truck driver was at fault, but somehow still blames the bus for being there. If The Strip is as crowded and congested as everyone claims it is, where exactly was the bus supposed to back up or move to? Into another vehicle behind the bus? That way we could put all the blame on the bus and none on the truck driver, right? Or, would everyone in that case blame the driver of the car behind the bus because they didn’t/couldn’t move?
Max says
Get used to it folks! This IS the future.
Who would have even THOUGHT a driverless bus would be operating 5 years ago?
Programmers will learn from this and improvements made.
Artificial intelligence is here. Our worry shouldn’t be things like this accident. Our concern should be over who is deciding what should be or should not be programmed into these autonomous machines.
Luis says
Agree, Max.
Danny says
You can’t fix stupid
LukeWarm says
It’s only the future if we accept it. It we don’t use the self check out register it will go away. If we don’t ride the automated bus it will go away. People are bringing about our own demise because it’s convenient with out thinking long term. Face it people we are a revenue stream now and not much more in the eyes of the corporations. The most important thing is profit, but who are they going to sell there stuff to when no one has a job anymore?
Richard A. says
This is the great paradox of autonomous technology. Human emotion has been removed from the driving aspect. The vehicles won’t drive based partially on feelings of fear, aggression, or anticipation. While this is generally positive, as someone said, they won’t always take the ‘common sense’ route in determining a best course of action in a given situation.
Scenario: You are on a small two lane road. You have a stop sign ahead. To your left, a truck pulling a 53’ trailer with his right turn signal on is approaching the intersection. Instinctively, you know he will need to take all the lanes when making the right hand turn, including part of your lane. You stop 20 feet back from the stop sign to provide him plenty of space to safely make the turn.
Will the autonomous vehicle do the same thing? Not a chance in hell. It will pull up to the stop sign, ‘see’ that another vehicle is in the intersection, and wait for the other truck to clear the intersection before proceeding. It won’t be smart enough to back up or pull over to the shoulder to let the truck by. If the other driver waves it through, it won’t ‘listen’ to that either.
There are just WAY too many variables and x-factors that occur in real life driving situations that a computer program can’t anticipate or deal with. Flawed as we are, humans still are a better option to autonomous technology.
Dave says
Once all vehicles are at least partially autonomous, the truck and trailer would have informed the car wirelessly that it needed extra room and the turn would have happened just fine. I find it hilarious you use that example when most drivers act the same way you describe the robo-car.
Mark B. says
Great point, Richard. You’re right.
Rick says
“The bus also has no gas pedal, no brake pedal, and no steering wheel.”
Well there’s your problem lady.
Kevin says
I don’t see the point of autonomous trucks – companies think they are going to save money by getting rid of driver’s, good luck with that. Do you think a autonomous truck will be able to install snow chains in winter conditions, back up and dock a trailer in a tight angle/ jack knife scenario or avoid road hazards such as deer (plural) running across the road? The answer is no and if the companies think they are going to pay drivers’ less to monitor and baby sit autonomous trucks they are smoking too much weed. It’s not going to happen. So what’s the point?
Alex says
It is really simple.
They won’t use autonomous trucks in places where snow and ice could be a problem, or at some point they could equip them with automatic chains, but there is enough of the country, and enough drivers currently that have never had to chain up, that this isn’t a problem.
As far as backing up, if the trailer has sensors built into it, an autonomous truck could back up with robotic precision that no human could ever hope to match, because it could see all points of vehicle at the same time.
But the initial and primary use case for autonomous trucks would logically be line haul between terminals, because then the yard guys at each end deal with all the trailer spotting, and the truck just has to get hooked up to new trailers and sent back to the other terminal.
As far as avoiding deer, I have had to replace several bumpers from one fleet I was in charge of because human drivers weren’t able to avoid single deer, and since autonomous trucks will have constant attention and much better ability to detect hazards like deer (cameras, radar, FLIR, etc, and has much better reflexes, I think it can handle deer better than at least a large percentage of human drivers, and that is worth it! Lol
Shogun says
Robotic precision no human could hope to match? Are you joking? Try hauling 15 stop furniture loads. I will be leaving the dock before that truck ever figured how to get on it. Ever hit a dock where the building wasn’t square and one side of the trailer was three or four inches off? Let me guess, the autonomous truck would take a 3D map of the building and compare it with topographical maps and do it perfectly first time?
Jimmynostroke says
I thought a commercial motor vehicle had the right of way when backing into a loading zone
Steve says
In the years to come as we see more autonomous on the road and more accidents, count on all of them being credited to human error. Computers are just dumb machines and do what they are told to do, or don’t do what they “aren’t” told to do. Sooner or later there will be a growing number of deaths associated with autonomous vehicles, and in true American fashion, the ambulance chaser attorney’s will come out of the wood-work and sue the makers of those vehicles for billions because they were negligent by not anticipating every single scenario that can possibly happen on the road.
This is also why I don’t believe that autonomous trucks will be hauling freight anytime soon, at least not in the way that we truckers currently haul freight. There are simply too many different driving scenarios that a computer can’t account for, like construction zones where the fog lines aren’t visible and the driver-less truck has no idea where the lane begins or ends, or what if a bug or bird takes out a sensor and the truck can’t see the stopped school bus full of kids stopped ahead? Liability is going to kill the idea before it even begins.
Steve says
In the years to come as we see more autonomous vehicles on the road and more accidents, count on all of them being credited to human error. Computers are just dumb machines and do what they are told to do, or don’t do what they “aren’t” told to do. Sooner or later there will be a growing number of deaths associated with autonomous vehicles, and in true American fashion, the ambulance chaser attorney’s will come out of the wood-work and sue the makers of those vehicles for billions because they were negligent by not anticipating every single scenario that can possibly happen on the road.
This is also why I don’t believe that autonomous trucks will be hauling freight anytime soon, at least not in the way that we truckers currently haul freight. There are simply too many different driving scenarios that a computer can’t account for, like construction zones where the fog lines aren’t visible and the driver-less truck has no idea where the lane begins or ends, or what if a bug or bird takes out a sensor and the truck can’t see the stopped school bus full of kids stopped ahead? Liability is going to kill the idea before it even begins.
Rick says
Regardless what really happens, “they” have to claim human error in order to perfect the system. Once “they” claim the system is perfected, then it has to be human error.
Steve Volkle says
Just wait until the first MAJOR crash one of these THINGS(POS’S) are in and then watch the LAWSUITS FLY
Gentry Newsom says
That’s right…
Who do you file the law suit against ? And who looks through all the cordinances..speeds..conditions..and comes up with a guilty..not guilty verdict 12 humans or somebody’s software plugged into some circuits???
OLD GUY says
I’m wondering when we will see autonomous cars at the drag strip racing each other 🤣
Deborah says
As stated the A bus no steering wheel , gas or brake pedals, or horn. When a truck backs up it’s emergency flashers are on. A truck must make a wide serpentine move to align the trailer to back op into its space. The A bus can not recognize what any other driver truck or car to stop far enough. back to let the truck move safely , he probably was watching for pedestrians walking behind and not hitting the buildings..what will happen when 2 A bus’s are involved in one stoping to maneuver and the other can’t judge distance 6” is to close for any driver even with 2 cars at a stop light ( drivers ed teaches to leave 1 car length between in case you need an escape route. So who’ s fault when 2 Computer A bus’s collide which computer do file a law suit against.
What Las Vegas should do is build a wharehouse for big rigs to drop on outside of city, then each hotel have or use Sprinter Van to pick up their stuff take it into city since they are smaller.
Shame on you photographer to take pictures when u could of used that time to warn the driver. Your need for sensationalism out weighed the safety of your fellow passsangers.
As another said if it was a fuel truck you’d all be dead. If he wanted a real story it should of how The A bus had no pedals, wheel, and sited the difference between a computers inability to judge distance and if there would have been a driver in it with it having pedals, wheel, and recognize back up lights on the trailer it would be avoided. What happened to the American job? Putting people out of work , only increases the potential for poverty and welfare your tax dollars will pay for.
kevin fluet says
I see that corporate america is at it again….cut out payroll and maximize profits….thats what its all about…not safety or concern for society…just how can we maximize profits…
I just dont understand why lazy Americans dont get it??? How many of us have issues with the things we own on a daily basis…cell phone glitxhes…digital tv networks that screw up cause its too windy…automation isnt the future…its the end of humanity
kevin fluet says
And just to add to this.. Who is accountable?…when lives are lost due to automation who is held responsible? What do the companies plan to tell their loved ones…”Sorry…was computers fault.”..or blame the closest humam.. Until there is accountability for computers innocent lives WILL BE LOST…and countless lives will be destroyed. For what…blood money
MartyM says
A machine can not read a persons mind, and visa versa, more than likely the bus did what the sensors was telling it, to keep the brakes on you are getting to close. Apparently they only figured this technology for when the bus is moving, back to the drawling board.