SELF-DRIVING UBER CAR KILLS U.S. WOMAN

Arizona pedestrian is first fatality involving an autonomous vehicle

AN Uber self-driving car hit and killed a woman crossing the street here, police said on Monday, marking the first fatality involving an autonomous vehicle and a potential blow to the technology expected to transform transportation.

The ride services company said it was suspending North American tests of its self-driving vehicles, which were going on here, in Pittsburgh and Toronto.

So-called robot cars, when fully developed by companies including Uber, Alphabet Inc and General Motors Co., are expected to drastically cut motor vehicle fatalities and create billion-dollar businesses. But Monday’s accident underscored the challenges ahead for the promising technology as the cars confront real-world situations involving real people.

United States Lawmakers have been debating legislation that would speed up the introduction of self-driving cars.

“This tragic accident underscores why we need to be exceptionally cautious when testing and deploying autonomous vehicle technologies on public roads,” said Democratic Senator Edward Markey, a member of the transportation committee.

Elaine Herzberg, 49, was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a four-lane road in the Phoenix suburb here on Sunday when she was hit by the Uber vehicle travelling at 65kph, police said.

The Volvo XC90 SUV was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel.

Herzberg died from her injuries in a hospital, police said.

“The pedestrian was outside of the crosswalk. As soon as she walked into the lane of traffic, she was struck,” Tempe Police Sergeant Ronald Elcock said at a news conference.

He said he did not yet know how close Herzberg was to the vehicle when she stepped into the lane.

He said he believed Herzberg might have been homeless.

The San Francisco Chronicle on Monday reported that Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir said from viewing videos taken from the vehicle, “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.

“I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault.”