A pedestrian was killed overnight in Tempe, Ariz., after being hit by a self-driving car operated by Uber.
This incident appears to be the first known death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on public roads.
The Uber vehicle was in autonomous mode with a human safety driver at the wheel when it struck a woman crossing the street outside of a crosswalk, the Tempe police said in a statement reported by the New York Times. Local authorities did not specify whether it was late Sunday or early Monday when the incident occurred, and the woman has not been publicly identified.
Uber began testing its fleet of self-driving vehicles for its ridesharing services in Tempe in February 2017. Around this time last year, Uber had suspended its self-driving car program after one of its autonomous vehicles was involved in a high-impact crash, also in the city of Tempe, though the company was not deemed to be responsible for that incident.
An Uber spokeswoman said the company was “fully cooperating” with the local authorities regarding the pedestrian death last night. The company said it has suspended testing of its self-driving cars in Tempe, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto.
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Source: The New York Times
