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The death of a duck in the Austin, Texas enclave of Mueller Lake has neighbors raising concerns about autonomous vehicles and whether they belong there. <\/p>\n
While humans are responsible for killing animals with their cars all the time, this incident has brought negative attention to the new technology. Local media picked up on the duck incident after a resident posted in a Mueller neighborhood Facebook group that an Avride autonomous vehicle (with a human safety operator behind the wheel) ran over and killed a duck, and did not stop afterwards. \u201cIt didn\u2019t slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled through,\u201d the post, which KXAN reported on,<\/a> reads.<\/p>\n Residents\u2019 familiarity with this particular duck, which was nesting in a pot located outside of a local Italian eatery, has added to the outrage and mistrust of the autonomous vehicle technology. For those concerned about the future of the duck\u2019s eggs, local residents have them in an incubator, Axios\u2019 Austin reports<\/a>.<\/p>\n An Avride spokesperson confirmed with TechCrunch that the vehicle was in autonomous mode at the time. Avride hasn\u2019t paused testing on public roads altogether. However, the company has adjusted its area of operations by excluding\u00a0certain streets around the lake in the neighborhood where the incident with the duck occurred, according to spokesperson Yulia Shveyko.<\/p>\n The resident also claimed in their post that the vehicle failed to stop at a stop sign. Avride told TechCrunch it did not find evidence to support that claim. The vehicle came to complete and appropriate stops at all relevant stop signs.<\/p>\n Shveyko said the team has reviewed vehicle data and behavior, including replaying the scene multiple times in simulation. Avride is now evaluating potential improvements to the technology to help avoid similar situations in the future, she said. Notably, this includes running a series of controlled experiments in simulation to ensure that any changes do not negatively impact the vehicle\u2019s safety performance in other scenarios. <\/p>\n Avride isn\u2019t the only company testing or commercially deploying autonomous vehicles in the city. Zoox has been testing in the city. Tesla and Waymo, in partnership with Uber, also operate a commercial robotaxi service in parts of Austin.<\/p>\n Techcrunch event<\/p>\n