An Uber self-Driving vehicle killed a woman as she was crossing the street. Due to this, Uber has stopped self-driving tests across the US and Canada until further notice. Here are the details we know so far at the time of this writing.
According to ABC15, a 49-year-old woman was crossing the street in Tempe, Arizona, when the vehicle hit her. She was taken to the hospital where she did not survive. According to ABC15 sources, she was not using the crosswalk. According to The Verge, early reports suggested she was a cyclist, but that was not the case.
There was a safety driver at the wheel of the vehicle who did not have any injuries; the vehicle was driving autonomously.
According to Los Angeles Times, Uber started testing their vehicles in Tempe, Arizona in February 2017 because Uber did not get a permit for testing autonomous vehicles in California. After this accident, they have stopped all their tests in Tampa, Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto, which is standard procedure for Uber.
Uber's CEO response to this tragedy
Uber's CEO Dara Khosrowshahi, who became the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Uber In August 2017, posted on Twitter earlier today, saying that they are working with "law enforcement" to figure it out what happened.
Here is the tweet:
Some incredibly sad news out of Arizona. We’re thinking of the victim’s family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened. https://t.co/cwTCVJjEuz
— dara khosrowshahi (@dkhos) March 19, 2018
This tweet prompted a lot of mixed reactions from people. Some of the replies say Uber should take full responsibility for this event, and others say self-driving vehicles are the future and they still cause fewer deaths than human-driven vehicles.
Responses from Tempe Mayor and NTSB
Mark Mitchell, Mayor of the city of Tempe, responded on Twitter with a statement, talking about the "innovation and promise" of this technology and how the Tempe Police will answer all questions regarding this tragedy. Here is the tweet:
Here is my statement regarding the tragic event that occurred in Tempe overnight. pic.twitter.com/3ql1WAxKpA
— Mayor Mark Mitchell (@AZMayorMitchell) March 19, 2018
The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) have started an investigation with four investigators who will examine vehicle factors, human performance, and electronic recorders.
According to the NTSB website, they are a federal agency that investigates every sort of transportation accident in order to prevent them from happening, and they issue safety recommendations, among other things.
Arizona already allows self-driving vehicles to operate without a safety driver. This is also the first known death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on a public road, but not the first accident.
