[jrkatz]

This is not so clear, especially on the darkness point (though I'm sure uber is pleased their message has taken the day in some circles). The car knew it needed to brake over 1 second before impact but failed to apply the brake. [0] A second of hard braking would have made a large difference in the survivability of the crash. What's more, the video uber released was misleading with respect to how dark it was. [1]

You can make what you will of the first point - uber had their reasons for disabling automatic emergency braking (who knows how many times erroneous stops would have caused accidents). The second point is fairly clear, though - the pedestrian in fact had every reason to feel very visible.

[0] https://www.ntsb.gov/news/press-releases/Pages/NR20180524.as...

[1] https://arstechnica.com/cars/2018/03/police-chief-said-uber-...

[greatpatton]

"the pedestrian in fact had every reason to feel very visible." Why because the pedestrian was high? Otherwise the NTSB report state:

"the pedestrian was dressed in dark clothing, did not look in the direction of the vehicle until just before impact, and crossed the road in a section not directly illuminated by lighting. The pedestrian was pushing a bicycle that did not have side reflectors and the front and rear reflectors, along with the forward headlamp, were perpendicular to the path of the oncoming vehicle. The pedestrian entered the roadway from a brick median, where signs facing toward the roadway warn pedestrians to use a crosswalk, which is located 360 feet north of the Mill Avenue crash site. The report also notes the pedestrian’s post-accident toxicology test results were positive for methamphetamine and marijuana."

I don't know how you derive that the pedestrian had every reason to feel visible.

[orisa2]

Read the Arstechnica article linked in the parent. It was not pitch-black. The pitch-black video was PR.