A driverless tragedy

无人驾驶的悲剧

The first pedestrian has been killed by a self-driving car
第一起自动驾驶车辆撞死行人事故

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.

在美国每天大约有 100 个人因交通而死亡，其中 16 个为行人。每一起事故都是一场悲剧，但是在三月十八日发生在亚利桑那州坦佩并且造成 Elaine Herzberg 被撞身亡的却是一种新型的事故类型。这是已知的第一起因自动驾驶车辆导致的行人死亡事故。这起事故使得人们开始讨论美国关于自动驾驶试验的法律规定是否过于宽松。

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 女士的车辆属于一家名为 Uber 的专车公司，其正在测试车上的自动驾驶模式。当地警方称事故发生时车速为 38 英里每小时（61千米每小时），而当地限速为 45 英里每小时，来自事故车辆的视频显示当时 Herzberg 正骑自行车在车辆旁边，然后突然拐到事故车辆的行驶路线上。车上的安全驾驶员工没有预见到这一碰撞也没有采取人工驾驶。警方与联邦安全机构正在开展调查，与此同时 Uber 暂停了在 亚利桑那、匹兹堡和旧金山的自动驾驶试验。

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.

许多美国的城市和州允许在公共道路上进行自动驾驶测试，但许可程度以及监督程度存在区别。以波士顿为例，要求自动驾驶车辆首先通过限制区域内的测试，然后才能进入更大的城市范围。加利福尼亚州要求自动驾驶测试公司每年定期提供安全测试报告。亚利桑那州对于自动驾驶公司特别具有吸引力，因为其城市街道为网格型，气候较为干燥和温暖（雪可能会干扰自动驾驶汽车用于扫描周边的雷达），并且其管理者也非常欢迎这类测试。自 2015 年以来，测试自动驾驶在此州并不需要特别的许可，尽管在三月一日政府官员颁布了一个管理办法。