Pedestrian Struck And Killed By Uber Autonomous Car

Uber has halted its North American autonomous testing programme following a fatality involving one of the ride-sharing firm’s specially-adapted Volvo XC90s.

While running in autonomous mode - with a safety operator behind the wheel - the vehicle hit 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, who was pushing a bicycle across the road in Tempe, Arizona on Sunday night. She was taken to hospital, but later died from her injuries. It’s thought to be the first fatal accident involving an autonomous car and a pedestrian.

According to local police, Herzberg was not using a pedestrian crossing at the time of the accident. Uber says that it is “fully cooperating” with authorities, while CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said: “We’re thinking of the victim’s family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened.”

This isn’t the first time Uber has temporarily taken its autonomous cars - which are also tested in Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto - off the road. In March last year, the company temporarily suspended the test programme after one of the modified XC90s crashed into anther car and flipped onto its side in Tempe. The other vehicle had failed to yield, highlighting one of the problems with testing autonomous vehicles amidst regular traffic.