A fatal pedestrian crash involving a self-driving Uber sports utility vehicle in a Phoenix suburb could have far-reaching consequences for the new technology as automakers and other companies race to be the first with cars that operate on their own.
The crash in Tempe on Sunday night was the first death involving a fully autonomous test vehicle.
The Volvo was in self-driving mode with a human backup driver at the wheel when it struck 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as she was walking a bicycle outside the lines of a crosswalk in Tempe, police said.
Photo: Reuters
Uber immediately suspended all road-testing of such cars in the Phoenix area, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.
The ride-sharing company has been testing self-driving vehicles for months as it competes with other technology companies and automakers like Ford and General Motors.
Though many in the industries had been dreading a fatal crash, they knew it was inevitable.
Tempe police Sergeant Ronald Elcock said local authorities have not determined fault, but urged people to use crosswalks.
He told reporters at a news conference on Monday that the Uber vehicle was traveling at about 64kph when it hit Helzberg immediately as she stepped onto the street.
Neither she nor the backup driver showed signs of impairment, he said.
“The pedestrian was outside of the crosswalk, so it was midblock,” Elcock said. “And as soon as she walked into the lane of traffic, she was struck by the vehicle.”
The US National Transportation Safety Board, which makes recommendations for preventing crashes, and the US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which can enact regulations, sent investigators.
Uber chief executive officer Dara Khosrowshahi expressed condolences on his Twitter account and sai d the company is cooperating with investigators.
The public’s image of the vehicles will be defined by stories like the crash in Tempe, said Bryant Walker Smith, a University of South Carolina law professor who studies self-driving vehicles.
It might turn out that there was nothing either the vehicle or its human backup could have done to avoid the crash, he said.
Either way, the fatality could hurt the technology’s image and lead to a push for more regulations at the state and federal levels, Smith said.
Autonomous vehicles have been billed as the way to reduce the more than 40,000 traffic deaths a year in the US alone.
Ninety-four percent of crashes are caused by human error, the US government has said.
“We should be concerned about automated driving,” Smith said. “We should be terrified about human driving.”
In 2016, the latest year available, more than 6,000 US pedestrians were killed by vehicles.
The US government has voluntary guidelines for companies that want to test autonomous vehicles, leaving much of the regulation up to states.
Many states, including Michigan and Arizona, have taken a largely hands-off approach, hoping to gain jobs from the new technology, while California and others have taken a harder line.
California is among states that require manufacturers to report any incidents during the testing phase. As of early this month, the state’s motor vehicle agency had received 59 such reports.
Arizona Governor Doug Ducey used light regulations to entice Uber to the state after the company had a shaky rollout of test cars in San Francisco.
Ducey’s office expressed sympathy for Herzberg’s family and said safety is the top priority.
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