20/03/2018

Uber pauses autonomous testing after fatal crash

Reuters reports that Uber Technologies Inc. has halted its autonomous vehicle trials after a pedestrian was killed by one of its cars in Tempe, Arizona.

The 49-year-old woman, Elaine Herzberg, was struck by an Uber vehicle while crossing the road outside of a pedestrian crossing. The vehicle was in autonomous mode but had a human safety driver supervising its operation said the Tempe Police Department. Elaine later died from her injuries.

'Uber is assisting and this is still an active investigation,' Liliana Duran, a Tempe police spokeswoman, said in an emailed statement.

Uber announced on Monday that testing of all its self-driving vehicles in public roads would stop with immediate effect. 'Our hearts go out to the victim's family,' a company spokeswoman said in a statement. 'We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.'

'We're within the phase of autonomous vehicles where we're still learning how good they are. Whenever you release a new technology there's a whole bunch of unanticipated situations,' said Arun Sundararajan, a professor at New York University's business school. 'Despite the fact that humans are also prone to error, we have as a society many decades of understanding of those errors.'

The National Transportation Safety Board will send an investigation team to the crash site and will be joined by The Department of Transportation's National Highway Traffic Safety Administration who has also dispatched a special crash investigation team.

It is unusual for the NTSB to open an accident probe but it has taken a close interest in incidents involving autonomous or partially autonomous vehicles. Last year, it partially faulted Tesla Inc.'s Autopilot system for a fatal crash in Florida in 2016.

'As always we want the facts, but based on what is being reported this is exactly what we have been concerned about and what could happen if you test self-driving vehicles on city streets,' said Jason Levine, executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, a Washington-based advocacy group. 'It will set consumer confidence in the technology back years if not decades. We need to slow down.'

'Public safety is our top priority, and we are in communication with law enforcement, which is investigating the accident and gathering facts, as well as Uber,' a spokesman for Arizona Governor Doug Ducey said.

'Tempe has been supportive of autonomous vehicle testing because of the innovation and promise the technology may offer,' Tempe Mayor Mark Mitchell said in a statement on Monday. 'Testing must occur safely. All indications we have had in the past show that traffic laws are being obeyed by the companies testing here. Our city leadership and Tempe Police will pursue any and all answers to what happened in order to ensure safety moving forward.'