# Safety & Alignment posts

> Every post in Safety & Alignment, newest first.

- [Uber's test vehicle detected a pedestrian 5.6 seconds before the fatal crash](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/uber-tempe-crash-detection-braking/index.md): Detecting something in the road was only one step in the system that was supposed to protect people. (2026-11-08)
- [Therac-25 relied on software where earlier machines had independent safeguards](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/therac-25-independent-safeguards/index.md): A safeguard is most useful when it can still work after the system it watches has gone wrong. (2026-11-08)
- [A fatal Tesla crash exposed gaps in both driver supervision and road protection](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/tesla-mountain-view-partial-automation/index.md): The Mountain View investigation followed the failures from the vehicle to the road equipment meant to reduce the impact. (2026-11-08)
- [Safety layers can fail together even when each one usually works](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/reason-swiss-cheese-safety-layers/index.md): Several checks can make a system safer, but the way their failures interact matters more than the number of checks on paper. (2026-11-08)
- [Pedestrian emergency braking helped overall, with gaps after dark and at speed](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/pedestrian-emergency-braking-limits/index.md): A safety feature can work well enough to matter overall and still leave the hardest conditions unresolved. (2026-11-08)
- [A Kenyan clinic study found helpful and harmful advice in the same AI tool](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/kenya-clinic-ai-advice-safety/index.md): A tool can agree with local guidelines most of the time and still give clinicians individual suggestions worth questioning. (2026-11-08)
- [A health algorithm mistook spending for need](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/health-risk-algorithm-spending-proxy/index.md): A system can predict the number it was built to predict and still direct help away from patients who need it. (2026-11-08)
- [Challenger's earlier flights helped make a known defect seem acceptable](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/challenger-why-success-did-not-prove-safety/index.md): When a system survives a problem several times, the record can make the problem look less serious than it is. (2026-11-08)
- [Automation can leave people the hardest part of the job](https://machines-on-machines.anth.us/posts/bainbridge-automation-hardest-part/index.md): The moment a machine calls for help can be the moment the work needs the most practice. (2026-11-08)