Uber Halts Autonomous Driving Operations After Pedestrian is Killed in Arizona

Uber halted autonomous vehicle test operations in the Phoenix area, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto, a spokesman emailed us Monday, after a self-driving Uber SUV struck and killed a pedestrian Sunday in Tempe, Arizona. The company is "fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident," he said. One vehicle operator was in the front seat; no passengers were in the back seat, he said. A Tempe Police Department statement confirmed the accident occurred while the car was in autonomous mode, with a vehicle operator behind the wheel. The automobile hit a female walking outside the crosswalk, said police. She was transported to a local hospital where she died Monday, they said. Late Monday, Tempe police at a media briefing identified the pedestrian as Elaine Herzberg, 49, and said she was walking a bike across the street where she was struck. They identified the Uber vehicle operator as Rafael Vasquez, 44, and said he was "cooperative" with authorities and showed "no evidence" of "impairment." Authorities deferred to Uber questions about what the responsibilities of Vasquez were when the vehicle was in the autonomous mode.The National Transportation Safety Board is "sending team to investigate Uber crash in Tempe, Arizona," it tweeted Monday. "More to come." Uber didn't disclose the vehicle's maker, but authorities said it was a Volvo XC90 SUV. Consumer Watchdog, a frequent critic of commercializing autonomous driving without tight regulatory oversight (see 1709120050), wants “a national moratorium on all robot car testing on public roads until the complete details of this tragedy are made public and are analyzed by outside experts so we understand what went so terribly wrong,” emailed John Simpson, privacy and technology project director. "Arizona has been the wild west of robot car testing with virtually no regulations in place. That’s why Uber and Waymo test there. When there’s no sheriff in town, people get killed.” The accident in Tempe is "a reminder of the risk that comes with rushing to get more and more self-driving cars on public roads before we know they are safe," said David Friedman, Consumers Union director-cars and product policy and analysis. "The promise of self-driving cars is that they can avoid fatalities, but this tragedy makes clear they have a long way to go. Right now, Congress is focused on exempting these cars from safety standards in an effort to get them on the market faster. Congress needs to shift its focus to ensuring these cars are safe."