{"id":11465,"date":"2025-04-11T08:17:14","date_gmt":"2025-04-11T15:17:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/?p=11465"},"modified":"2025-04-11T08:17:14","modified_gmt":"2025-04-11T15:17:14","slug":"wyoming-man-who-says-ai-driver-wrecked-train-settles-with-union-pacific","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/2025\/04\/11\/wyoming-man-who-says-ai-driver-wrecked-train-settles-with-union-pacific\/","title":{"rendered":"Wyoming Man Who Says AI Driver Wrecked Train Settles With Union Pacific"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

This would seem to indicate some more AI trash. Though, being a Run 8 simulator fan, depending on hill and train layout, it’s not uncommon to fence your DPU units in the mid or rear so you can control them separately and give them more throttle, as you usually have more engines in the front that can pull harder and put more force on the couplers up front which you don’t want to break (you can break them in Run 8). Though this seems to have been more severe to have injured him. Consequently, there are signs at the edge of our huge train yard in Cheyenne that warn of trains with no people, though remote controlled and thankfully not AI yet. And it would be hard to work for these companies today who seem content to put you at risk. And I’ll make a post<\/a> about Run 8 in case trains interest anyone.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

https:\/\/cowboystatedaily.com\/2025\/04\/10\/wyoming-man-who-says-ai-driver-wrecked-train-settles-with-union-pacific\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n

<\/div><\/div><\/div>\n\n\n
A Pinedale, Wyoming, man secured a settlement against Union Pacific Railroad on Wednesday. He\u2019d accused the railroad of making him work on a locomotive driven by an artificial intelligence system that caused a crash.<\/h5>\n\n\n\n

By Clair McFarland<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"A
A Union Pacific locomotive pulls a string of empty cars through Wyoming’s coal country. (Courtesy Jason Kintzler)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A Pinedale, Wyoming, man who sued Union Pacific Railroad last year on claims the company caused a train wreck by using an artificial intelligence-powered driver<\/u><\/a> settled his lawsuit Wednesday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Andrew Kirol last April accused Union Pacific Railroad of negligence and violating federal inspection laws ahead of a May 3, 2021, crash outside of Green River, Wyoming. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirol and the railroad company filed a notice Wednesday informing the U.S. District Court for Wyoming that they\u2019d settled the lawsuit. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terms aren\u2019t yet known: the settlement agreement was not publicly available as of Thursday. Kirol\u2019s attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The terms of the settlement are confidential, according to a UP spokesman.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The spokesman said Union Pacific\u2019s Energy Management System (EMS) manages train forces, momentum and speed and is \u201cakin to intelligent cruise control. Using real-time onboard simulations, EMS looks at a train\u2019s length and weight, the terrain and the curvature of the tracks.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt then selects the best train handling strategy to control throttle and dynamic braking, effectively managing the natural push and pull of the couplers that connect rail cars,\u201d says the statement. It says EMS reduces fuel consumption nearly 4% compared to manual operation \u2013 equating to approximately 350 gallons per 1,000 train miles. In 2023, EMS saved Union Pacific 18 million gallons of fuel while reducing greenhouse gas emissions 247,000 metric tons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As of Monday, the case file indicated it was still headed to trial. The lawyers had agreed on terms to dictate the exchange of confidential evidence, and asked the judge to authorize those terms. The judge did in a Tuesday order. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Claims<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Kirol\u2019s original allegations stemmed from a wreck he suffered while working as a locomotive engineer. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On May 3, 2021, he was on a train headed for Green River. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Union Pacific had installed a computer software system known as \u201cLEADER,\u201d which was to control the locomotives without input from the engineer, and learn through artificial intelligence how to control the trains\u2019 movements over various tracks, terrains and territories, the original complaint says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirol\u2019s complaint says the railroad company compelled him \u201cunder threat of discipline\u201d to use the computer-driven locomotives that day to operate a lengthy freight train on the main line tracks through hills, valleys and other obstacles.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Kirol rode in the lead locomotive, with a locomotive about halfway toward the rear of the train uncrewed and driven by the computer rather than remotely by him as it would \u201cnormally\u201d be, the document says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The train approached Green River and started climbing a hill.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The computer system gave the locomotives dangerous instructions, telling the lead locomotive to slow down and the middle locomotive to speed up, which made the middle locomotive rear-end the front cars, throwing Kirol around the lead locomotive\u2019s cab, injuring his lower back and other parts of his body, the complaint alleges.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNo competent locomotive engineer would have allowed (this situation) to arise under the circumstances,\u201d the document adds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This story has been updated to include a post-publication comment by Union Pacific.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This would seem to indicate some more AI trash. Though, being a Run 8 simulator fan, depending on hill and train layout, it’s not uncommon to fence your DPU units in the mid or rear so you can control them separately and give them more throttle, as you usually have more engines in the front […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6,31],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11465","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-tech","category-wyoming"],"blocksy_meta":[],"featured_image_src":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Jason","author_link":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/author\/jturning\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11465"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11468,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11465\/revisions\/11468"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11465"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11465"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/jasonsblog.ddns.net\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11465"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}