Self-driving Uber car kills pedestrian in Arizona

According to a new report from The New York Times, an autonomous vehicle from Uber struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona:

The Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode with a human safety driver at the wheel when it struck the woman, who was crossing the street outside of a crosswalk, the Tempe police said in a statement.

The Times says this may be the first time a pedestrian has been killed after being struck by a self-driving vehicle.

Uber has reportedly suspended testing of its autonomous vehicle fleet and is cooperating with authorities. The company issued a statement following the incident:

Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We’re fully cooperating with @TempePolice and local authorities as they investigate this incident.Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We’re fully cooperating with @TempePolice and local authorities as they investigate this incident.— Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) March 19, 2018 March 19, 2018

Mikah Sargent is Senior Editor at Mobile Nations. When he's not bothering his chihuahuas, Mikah spends entirely too much time and money on HomeKit products. You can follow him on Twitter at @mikahsargent if you're so inclined.

2 Comments

yea that will bring them back to life. Good things their hearts went out to the family. This is a big lawsuit. Now here is a good question since there was someone in the driver's seat who is responsible? Uber or the driver?
The CDC numbers for 2016 list about 42K people killed in vehicle or traffic related accidents in the US. Unless you are aware of some proof of negligence on the part of Uber, there is no reason to believe this will cost them much besides bad press. Even the early report noted that she was in the road, and not in a crosswalk.