“I blame society.” That was once the apocryphal cry from criminals who held a warped system accountable for their deeds. Today that’s largely changed to “I blame technology.”
It was only a matter of time before someone tried to pin their “driving under the influence” charge on driver-assist technology.
Meet 23-year-old Philadelphia resident Dimple Patel. On Sept. 3, the pre-med student was charged with homicide by vehicle while DUI, homicide by vehicle, involuntary manslaughter, DUI and a slew of other offenses in connection with the deaths of two men on the I-95 in March.
Not much unique about the story, nothing more than a run-of-the-mill DUI killing.
Here’s the twist: Pennsylvania State Police and the U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) believe Patel was using her hands-free driving mode at the time of the collision, having engaged the Ford Mustang Mach-E’s BlueCruise and adaptive cruise control. In May, NTSB released a preliminary report that stated, “Vehicle-based data indicated that the vehicle’s 23-year-old driver was using BlueCruise.”
According to ABC News, Patel’s defense lawyer Zak Goldstein noted that generally Pennsylvania law on DUI-related homicides requires “that the DUI caused the homicide.” He added, “If in fact it’s a failure in a self-driving or a driving system, that may not be a homicide by DUI even if the driver is intoxicated.”
So, in Patel’s case it may be “I blame technology.”
According to the Philadelphia Inquirer, Patel was drunk and speeding at 3 a.m. in her 2022 SUV. Police say she was travelling at just over 70 miles an hour (113 kilometres an hour) when she struck and killed two men who were pulled over on the shoulder of the road. Tolobek Esenbekov had stopped his gray Hyundai Elantra to help Aktilek Baktybekov, whose red Toyota Prius had broken down. Patel rear-ended the Elantra and triggered a four-car collision.
This was not the first time a vehicle equipped with Ford’s BlueCruise and adaptive cruise control was involved in a fatal night-time collision. Last February in San Antonio, a Mustang Mach-E SUV with Ford’s advanced driver-assist system crashed into the rear of a stopped Honda CR-V, killing a 56-year-old man.
The NTSB and the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) are investigating both crashes. The NHTSA also began investigating Tesla in December 2023. The NHTSA reported that, between January 2018 and August 2023, there were 956 crashes involving Autopilot and Tesla’s “Full Self Driving” systems that resulted in 29 deaths.
Having unquestionably violated the Hippocratic oath; Patel’s sad story is just beginning. It’s early days in her journey through the criminal justice system, but it does appear that her defense is considering whether they can separate the actions of the driver (drunk) from the actions of the advanced driver-assist system. If they can demonstrate Ford’s BlueCruise was at fault, that the accident would have occurred regardless of Patel’s intoxication, it would not be DUI homicide - legally speaking – which in a court of law is all that matters.
This is a tall order as BlueCruise is considered to have Level 2 autonomy, which is partial automation while the driver must always be ready to take over.
The NHTSA would like to see vehicles built with a technological “kill switch” to stop drunk driving. In December, 2023, it took a step closer to this goal and issued its Advance Notice of Proposed Rulemaking (ANPRM) on Advanced Impaired Driving Technology.
The technology already exists. In January, 2024, Magna introduced a breath and camera-based pre-development technology designed to combat impaired driving. The company, based in Aurora, Ont., says it “combines key elements of the interior sensing system, which utilizes camera technology to detect driver distraction, drowsiness and intoxication through pupillary signals, with infrared sensor technology.”
In the meantime, we’ll have more human excuses. Drivers aren’t good at taking responsibility. A Colorado man once blamed his dog for driving over the speed limit, as did a man in Kelowna who was impaired by drugs.
We may have a new wrinkle. If you are stupid enough to drink and drive, when you sober up you better be smart enough to hire a lawyer who’ll blame technology.