Autonomous Uber Test Vehicle Hits and Kills Pedestrian in Arizona

If you have a hard time understanding the want or need for autonomous vehicles, you are certainly not alone. Our thought has always been unless every single car on the road is autonomous it’s hard to see how it can work as we humans sometimes exhibit erratic behaviour  on or near roads that cannot be anticipated by even the most advanced of autonomous systems and will likely cause accidents. This appears to be just what has happened in Tempe, Arizona late Sunday night as an autonomously-driven Uber struck and killed a pedestrian. The deceased women, who has been identified as 49 year-old Elaine Herzberg, was reportedly crossing the street outside of a crosswalk when she was hit and killed by the self-driven SUV. A back-up driver was in the vehicle but had zero control of the vehicle at the time of the accident. Arizona is one of the few places South of the border where it is legal to test autonomous vehicles without having a human occupant in the driver’s seat. Sarah Abboud, a spokesman for Uber, was quoted in a statement: “Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.” Uber’s CEO has said that the company will continue to work with law enforcement to try and clarify what happened and that all Uber autonomous vehicle testing will be suspended for now. This unfortunate incident has shed some light on the fact that maybe we just aren’t ready for autonomous vehicles and until we are absolutely certain we are, maybe testing them on populated roads where other people are at risk isn’t the best idea.