Pedestrian’s death puts spotlight on self-driving cars
The death of a woman hit by an Uber self-driving car hit in Arizona yesterday was 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 are currently going on in Arizona, Pittsburgh and Toronto.
So-called robot cars, when fully developed by companies including Uber, Alphabet and General Motors, are expected to drastically cut down on motor vehicle fatalities and create billion-dollar businesses. But yesterday’s accident, in which the car struck a woman crossing the road at night, underscored the possible challenges ahead for the promising technology as the cars confront real-world situations involving real people.
Lawmakers in the United States 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 across a four-lane road in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe when she was struck by the Uber vehicle travelling at about 65km/h, police said. The Volvo XC90 SUV was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel.
Herzberg later died from her injuries in a hospital, police said.
Tempe Police Sergeant Ronald Elcock said Herzberg was not using a pedestrian crossing.
“As soon as she walked into the lane of traffic she was struck,” Elcock said. He said he did not know how close Herzberg was to the vehicle when she stepped into the lane.
Elcock said he believed Herzberg may have been homeless.
Tempe authorities and federal officials are still investigating the incident. Canada’s Transportation Ministry in Ontario, where Uber conducts testing, also said it was reviewing the accident.
Swedish car brand Volvo said the software controlling the car in the crash was not its own.
Uber and Waymo — formerly the Google self-driving car project — on Saturday urged Congress to pass sweeping legislation to speed the introduction of self-driving cars into the United States.
Some congressional Democrats have blocked the legislation over safety concerns, and yesterday’s fatality could hamper passage of the bill, congressional aides said Monday.
— Reuters