The person at the wheel when that woman was killed was responsible for stepping on the brakes if necessary. And when I have cruise control on, I'm also responsible for stepping on the brakes if necessary.
Yeah, but with cruise control, at least having your hands on the wheel forces you to pay attention.
Really, I think Uber should have used tech to make sure the driver is alert. And test whether the driver can stay alert in a simulator. It's too easy to blame the driver.
It's even worse than that, sadly. The tech is called 'driver vigilance devices' and are common on the railways. Although they're better than nothing, it turns out that real drivers end up operating the device automatically, even if they're not alert. It may simply not be possible to engineer your way around.
