“ Two bus operators -- on board to supervise the autonomous driving -- said they noticed the athlete, but thought he would stop walking as the bus was approaching, according to Japan's Asahi daily.
The Mainichi daily said the bus automatically stopped but the operators pressed the start button as they did not think he would walk out on to the road.”
Yeah, if that's the case then this story is literally the 100% exact opposite of what the headline implies: it was the human drivers who were the weak link and caused an accident just is normally the case. Self-driving systems can be patient and just wait when in doubt, rather then feel any emotional temptation to make assumptions and get a move on.
So yes, misleading/clickbait it was, but not "100% exact opposite".
But that wouldn't be news. It matters because most people will just read the headline and go away thinking self-driving technology is dangerous.
The Mainichi daily said the bus automatically stopped but the operators pressed the start button as they did not think he would walk out on to the road. (fourth paragraph from the end).
Perhaps you missed that part?
Such buses will stop too often. If you don’t allow a human to tell the bus that it can continue (not a “run over people” button, but a “trust me, it’s safe to continue” button), it may never continue.
Advantage over a bus that drives more aggressively is that this doesn’t require the human operator to continuously pay attention.
Without video any attempt at allocating fault is mostly speculation.