On Sunday night, a pedestrian was killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle in Tempe, Arizona. According to officials, the woman was crossing a four-lane road outside the designated cross walk when she was hit at approximately 10:00 p.m. She was transported to a nearby hospital where she later died. The woman is believed to be the first pedestrian killed by a self-driving vehicle. At the time of the accident, the Uber vehicle was reportedly in autonomous mode with a vehicle operator in the front seat. There were no passengers in the vehicle at the time. Autonomous mode means the car is driving on its own. However, during testing, a person sits behind the wheel as a safeguard. Uber is conducting tests of autonomous vehicles in Arizona, Pittsburgh, Toronto and other areas throughout the United States and Canada. In the wake of the accident, Uber announced that it has temporarily halted its self-driving test operations across North America. The National Transportation Safety Board is sending a team to Arizona to investigate the accident which comes nearly a year after an Uber self-driving vehicle was involved in another crash in Tempe. In that accident, the Uber vehicle rolled on its side, although there were no reported injuries.
The fatal crash will likely raise questions about regulations for self-driving cars, which were initially expected to drastically cut down on motor vehicle fatalities. Testing of self-driving cars is already underway for vehicles that have a human driver ready to take over if something goes wrong. Some states, including Arizona, already allow self-driving cars to operate without a driver behind the wheel. This past month, California announced that it will allow companies to test self-driving vehicles without a person in the driver’s seat beginning in April.
If you or someone you know has been injured in an auto accident, contact an attorney at Abraham, Watkins, Nichols, Agosto, Aziz & Stogner by calling (713) 222-7211 or toll free at 713-222-7211.