Arizona Prosecutor Clears Uber of Criminal Liability in Fatal Self-Driving Crash
A Yavapai County prosecutor determines that Uber holds no criminal responsibility for the 2018 death of a pedestrian struck by one of its autonomous test vehicles. The decision follows a thorough review of the evidence surrounding the tragic incident in Tempe.
An Arizona prosecutor officially clears Uber of criminal liability in the fatal 2018 crash involving one of its self-driving test vehicles in Tempe. The Yavapai County Attorney's Office states that a thorough review of the evidence reveals no legal basis to hold the corporation criminally responsible for the death of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. Yavapai County handles the case instead of Maricopa County to avoid a potential conflict of interest.
The incident occurs when Herzberg walks a bicycle across the road at night and is struck by a Volvo SUV operating in computer control mode with a human backup driver inside. A previous report from the National Transportation Safety Board reveals that the autonomous system struggles to identify the pedestrian, initially classifying her as an unknown object, then a vehicle, and finally a bicycle in the seconds before impact.
Despite recognizing the need for an emergency braking maneuver, the self-driving system does not activate the brakes because it is programmed to rely on human intervention during computer-controlled operation. The safety system does not alert the backup driver of the impending collision, resulting in the operator swerving less than a second before impact and braking only after the vehicle hits Herzberg.