Skip to main content

Autonomous shuttle passenger injured following sudden stop

A 76-year-old passenger travelling on an autonomous shuttle has been injured after the vehicle came to an unexpected stop, says KUTV. Gene Petrie, an employee at the Utah State Tax Commission, was thrown from his seat and hit the handrail near the door, resulting in bruising and black eyes. Charlie Roberts, spokesman for the Utah State Tax Commission, is quoted saying: “Out of the clear blue, it suddenly stopped, and it wasn’t a slow-down stop. It was a sudden stop.” Petrie went to the hospital f
August 6, 2019 Read time: 2 mins

A 76-year-old passenger travelling on an autonomous shuttle has been injured after the vehicle came to an unexpected stop, says %$Linker: 2 External <?xml version="1.0" encoding="utf-16"?><dictionary /> 0 0 0 link-external KUTV false https://kutv.com/news/local/first-injury-on-utahs-driverless-shuttle-during-unexpected-stop false false%>.

Gene Petrie, an employee at the Utah State Tax Commission, was thrown from his seat and hit the handrail near the door, resulting in bruising and black eyes.

Charlie Roberts, spokesman for the Utah State Tax Commission, is quoted saying: “Out of the clear blue, it suddenly stopped, and it wasn’t a slow-down stop. It was a sudden stop.”

Petrie went to the hospital for treatment and returned to work the next day. He is a state worker travelling on the shuttle near the Multi Agency State Office Building while the 1904 Utah Department of Transportation (UDoT) is testing the technology.

John Gleason, UDoT spokesman, says: “As soon as this happened, we took the shuttle out of service immediately for about 24 hours and ran a bunch of tests on it, ran through the emergency stops, looked at the software, looked at the sensors.”

The cause of the sudden stop is unknown as no one noticed a pedestrian or obstacle that may have tripped a sensor.

“You hate to see an incident like that, but we’re confident in the overall safety of the shuttle and we’ve taken a lot of precautions to ensure something like this doesn’t happen again,” Gleason adds.

The UDoT has reduced the shuttle’s speed from 12 miles per hour to 9. The operator is now more frequently warning people that abrupt stops are possible.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • TDS exhibits OIML-R134 certified low- and high-speed WIM system
    March 20, 2018
    Traffic Data Systems is exhibiting its OIML-R134 certified low- and high-speed Weigh-In-Motion (WIM) system at Intertraffic 2018. Designed for a speed range from 5km/h to 120 km/h for HGVs, WIM-DSP 32/TMCS-U has been certified by the Federal Institute of Metrology (METAS) in Switzerland. “We’ve done WIM for almost 20 years,” says Florian Weiss, CEO of Traffic Data Systems. “The key thing at Intertraffic is to show customers that there is a system available with the certification they’ve asked for. Certifi
  • Former US DoT boss says job was sometimes like ‘sitting over trapdoor’
    November 30, 2018
    The political pressure on transit organisations was starkly highlighted by the distinguished former boss of Michigan Department of Transportation at a UK conference this week. Kirk Steudle, who joined Econolite recently after a career in the public sector, said he often felt as though there was “a trapdoor under your seat” while he was in charge of state transportation. Talking about the development of ITS solutions at regional authority level, he said: “The ability to move forward is largely dependen
  • Former US DoT boss says job was sometimes like ‘sitting over trapdoor’
    November 30, 2018
    The political pressure on transit organisations was starkly highlighted by the distinguished former boss of Michigan Department of Transportation at a UK conference this week. Kirk Steudle, who joined Econolite recently after a career in the public sector, said he often felt as though there was “a trapdoor under your seat” while he was in charge of state transportation. Talking about the development of ITS solutions at regional authority level, he said: “The ability to move forward is largely dependen
  • InDriver’s ride-hailing app allows NYC users to negotiate fares
    December 12, 2018
    InDriver has launched its ride-hailing app in New York City (NYC) which allows the driver and passenger to negotiate lower fares. The app allows users to set a fare for a selected route. Nearby drivers receive the destination and fare and can either accept or bargain for more money. The passenger receives multiple offers from drivers, allowing them to make a choice based on fare amount, driver ratings, estimated time of arrival and vehicle make/model. The service is available to communities in Brooklyn,