What's Wrong With This Sentence?

[ToraToraTora]

"Uber safety driver charged over death of pedestrian who was struck by self-driving car "
https://news.sky.com/story/uber-safety-driver-charged-over-death-of-pedestrian-who-was-struck-by-self-driving-car-12072968
How can a "driver" be charged if the car is driving itself?

[barry1010]

Because the driver is ultimately responsible. She knew that Uber had de-activated the automatic emergency breaking system and needed to be alert and in overall control of the vehicle.

[ToraToraTora]

either she was driving or she wasn't.

[AuntPollyGrey]

It depends if 'self -driving' is used as an adjective or a verb.

[woofgang]

because the braking facility in the self drive module had been de activated therefore it was the responsibility of the human in charge of the car. The human in charge of the car knew this and should have been monitoring the situation ready to brake idf needed and she was not, she was watching TV on her phone.....but you knew that didn't you TTT? Or maybe you don;t read your own links?

[TrevorThePug]

This case goes back a few years. I think the main point - apart from a life lost of course - is that the 'driver' was watching a TV programme whist behind the wheel of a moving vehicle to which they were responsible. Volvo must also be culpable if the car could not recognise pedestrians, but ultimately the person in control of the vehicle should have been paying attention.

[ToraToraTora]

it said the auto emg braking was removed so it's self driving with no brakes?? I took that not to be the case or the "driver" would have had to handle all the braking. Still what's the point if the driver has to drive it anyway/

[woofgang]

But Volvo had no part in disabling the braking system.

[woofgang]

TTT it was on test. the point was testing....but again I am sure that you read your link before posting it.

[TrevorThePug]

That's irrelevant really. The primary job of a controller in a driverless car is to monitor road and vehicle conditions in order to override base functions in such emergencies. She didn't, she was watching TV knowing that these were prototype test cars.

[fiction-factory]

The term that is wrong is self-driving car - it is misleading at the moment as the car is not totally self-driving, for the reasons everyone has explained.

[ToraToraTora]

right FF, so lets stop pretending cars can ever drive themelves.

[ToraToraTora]

themselves

[THECORBYLOON]

Not like TTT to deliberately misunderstand something, is it?

[TrevorThePug]

The term self driving refers to a vehicle which moves with little or no human input. From the moment the automatic breaking system was deactivated, it was no longer autonomous.

[Ellipsis]

Only Father Christmas can drive them elves!

[ToraToraTora]

trevor it never was or could be autonomous.

[Peter Pedant]

because the legislation stipulates you are still in charge

Like you know - s'pose you are a mensan or somefing and you are fooing along in a car. and you take your hands off the steering wheel and lift your feet off the pedals yeah

so the car is self driving - well you certainly arent !

you are still responsible

god it is lucky we are around in AB to look after you innit?

now what is next on AB - ah yes, five a side football with varying ages - and the red half is in Wales and the blue half is in England. an old confusing chestnut ......

[ichkeria]

It doesn’t have a main verb

[woofgang]

yup I have got cruise control on my car so I actually can take both feet off the pedals. It doesn't excuse me from putting them back on again if I need to.

[TrevorThePug]

"right FF, so lets stop pretending cars can ever drive themelves."

You know when a jumbo jet goes to autopilot, the Captain and his Co-Pilot can't just sit back and rely on an inflated Otto. They still have a job to do.