Abstract to the article accident Uber-Volvo

The article deals with the forensic evaluation of the accident on 19/03/2018, in which a fully-automated Volvo driving the car service provider Uber in Tempe, Arizona collided with a pedestrian, who subsequently died of her injuries.

The vehicle forensics specialist Dipl.-Ing. Thomas Käfer, M.Sc. asked for the original video from the accident vehicle at the Arizona police station and then used Car-Forensics as part of his research. He comes here in part to completely different statements than the first police reports and the general media coverage. In fact, through careful analysis of the material and comparison with other sources, he was able to prove that the slain pedestrian had not suddenly stepped out of the shadows and that the accident was anything but inevitable for man or machine. In fact, the situation at the scene of the accident was nowhere near as dark and confusing as the flashy, dark video leaked by the police was meant to make one believe. The video has been copied at least once lossy and rendered negligent or even deliberately darker than actually necessary.


In addition, it has been found that the vehicle is within the allowable speed limit of 45 mph and thus it has not - as also reported incorrectly - committed a speeding offense. However, at the time of impact, it was 45 mph and not 40 mph as claimed. The human driver on board to monitor the fully automated vehicle did not look at the road at least six seconds before the impact and was apparently distracted. If she had been aware, she would have been able to avoid the accident by early intervention (braking and / or avoiding) without any problem.
Apparently, however, the sensor systems of the vehicle have failed, as even for this the pedestrian must have been detected at the latest 4.5 seconds and about 80 meters before the accident as an obstacle to collision course. The stopping distance, under unfavorable conditions, would have been no more than 54 meters.

On about 33 pages DIN A4 and with 27 mostly colored illustrations as well as an analysis video, the article shows how the author arrived at these findings and conclusions, which deviate from previous reporting. For further causal research, what has happened within the vehicle system, of course, one must have access to selbigem and the information stored therein. The author had (so far) for obvious reasons not. The article is to be seen as a supplement to the previous editions of the research report Car-Forensics and is part of the current 4th edition of April 2018.

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