A female walking in the street was killed after being struck by an self-driving Uber car in Arizona. In response, Uber has pulled all of its self-driving cars from public roads in the state as well as in the cities of San Francisco, Toronto, and Pittsburgh.
The accident happened near Mill Avenue and Curry Road early Monday morning in Tempe, Arizona. The Uber car was headed north when a woman walking across the street was struck. The woman was taken to the hospital, where she later died from her injuries. Early reports suggested that she may have been a bike rider, but that was not the case. Police have identified her as 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg.
Uber confirms that the car was traveling in self-driving mode with a safety driver behind the wheel during the accident. That would make the woman one of the first known deaths of a accident involving a self-driving car.
The safety driver was the only person inside the car at the time of the accident, and did not get any injuries. The company refused to tell more details about the driver’s identity or qualifications. Data from the car’s many cameras and sensors will no doubt prove useful to the police when looking into the cause of the accident.