Self-driving car in Texas hits and kills mother duck, sparking neighborhood outrage

The death of a duck in the Austin, Texas enclave of Mueller Lake has raised concerns about autonomous vehicles and whether they belong there.

While people 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 to a Facebook group in Mueller’s neighborhood that an Avride autonomous vehicle (with a human safety operator behind the wheel) struck and killed a duck and then failed to stop. “It didn’t slow down or hesitate at all, it just steamed through,” the post, which KXAN reported, is reading.

Residents’ familiarity with the particular duck, which was nesting in a flowerpot outside a local Italian restaurant, has fueled anger and mistrust of self-driving technology. For those worried about the future of duck eggs, the locals have them in an incubator, Axios’ Austin exhibitions.

An Avride spokesperson confirmed with TechCrunch that the vehicle was in autonomous mode at the time. Avride hasn’t completely stopped testing on public roads. However, the company has adjusted its operating area by blocking off some streets around the lake in the neighborhood where the duck incident occurred, according to spokeswoman Yulia Shveyko.

The resident also claimed in their post that the vehicle did not stop at a stop sign. Avride told TechCrunch that it found no evidence to support that claim. The vehicle has come to a complete and proper stop at all relevant stop signs.

Shveyko said the team has looked at the vehicle’s data and behavior, including repeating the scene several times in simulation. Avride is now evaluating potential improvements to the technology to help prevent similar situations in the future, he said. In particular, this involves running a series of controlled simulation experiments to ensure that any changes do not adversely affect the vehicle’s safety performance in other scenarios.

Avride isn’t the only company testing or developing commercially autonomous vehicles in the city. Zoox is testing in the city. Tesla and Waymo, in partnership with Uber, also operate a commercial robotaxi service in parts of Austin.