It’s safe to say that no one at the autonomous vehicle startup Avride will be using any omelette-related idioms about the necessity of sacrifice anytime soon.
In Austin, Texas, where the company is based and tests its self-driving tech, one of its autonomous cars ran over and killed a mother duck that had wandered away from her nearby nest of eggs — and drove off without stopping.
As KXAN reported, the hit-and-run was first flagged by a resident in a Facebook group for the Mueller Lake Park neighborhood where the incident took place, claiming that a person was in the driver’s seat without their hands on the wheel when it happened.
“It didn’t slow down or hesitate at all, just steamrolled right through, and the person inside did not stop to see what happened, just kept driving on,” wrote resident Lewis Pierce in the post. Pierce also claimed the Avride car blew through a stop sign moments before the deadly collision.
Avride said it was conducting an investigation and would temporarily adjust its cars so they avoid roads around the park lake where the accident occurred. But it denied that the vehicle ignored stop signs, after finding no evidence in the vehicle’s data to support the account.
“The vehicle came to complete and appropriate stops at all relevant stop signs,” Avride head of communications Yulia Shveyko told KXAN in a statement. “We will, however, continue to carefully analyze all related data to ensure a full understanding of the situation.”
The company’s response will likely do little to conciliate residents who are already weary of self-driving cars. Austin is a hub for robotaxis and other AVs, with companies like Waymo and Tesla operating fleets in the area, and not everyone is a fan of their growing presence.
Adding to the fury, some were familiar with the late mother duck.
“I don’t really like driverless vehicles,” Ada Dang, who frequents the park, told KXAN. “Humans have to get a license in order to drive vehicles. This driverless vehicle has not stopped at a stop sign, and then killed a wildlife that we all know and love.”
Pierce was rattled by the incident.
“It was quite disturbing and really made me doubt the safety of those vehicles,” he told Axios.
The duck’s eggs, which were resting in a nearby pot in the park, have been picked up by good samaritans and are being taken care of in an incubator, Pierce added.
This is far from the AV industry’s first animal casualty. Last year, a Waymo robotaxi killed a widely adored bodega cat in a San Francisco neighborhood, inciting enough backlash that it became a national news story. Another one of the self-driving cabs hit a dog and left the children riding in the car sobbing.
More on AVs: Man Caught Sleeping Behind the Wheel While FSD Tesla Cruises the Streets After Decadent Feast of Wine and Pizza
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