Uber is not being held liable for the death of a woman who was killed by one of its autonomous cars in the US last year, a court investigation has found. The woman, Elaine Herzberg, 49, was killed when an autonomous Volvo XC90 struck her at 70 km/h while walking her bicycle across a road in Tempe, Arizona.
Despite having decided the ride-hailing company is not criminally liable for the accident, a county official said the car’s human backup driver, Rafaela Vasquez, could still face legal charges.
The police reports that Vasquez was distracted at the time of the crash, with evidence suggesting she may have been streaming an episode of The Voice on her smartphone. The fatal accident could have been avoided had she had her eyes on the road instead, the police added.
The accident happened along a dimly-lit road when Herzberg, apparently a homeless woman, crossed the street on the fateful day of March 18, 2018. Since then, the Arizonian state has banned Uber’s self-driving car test programme. Below is an actual video footage showing Vasquez’s actions prior to the crash.
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Wow! Cash is king indeed! Money solves everything in USA.
Poor dude who was just a technician in the car.
Hmm….. so meaning if my driver were to run over someone, he is not liable but I might be charged instead? Just another reason not to bring my driver during my trips to USA.
Means that human eyes still better than you radar la….
Money wins, real human crash test dummies lose.
In Malaysia we better not have autonomous. Cause the backup driver will usually be tido.
Isn’t that the point of autonomous driving or were you that clueless about what are you talking?
Why we need self driving? If u can’t drive, then don’t drive!
How could Uber not held responsible? It’s their software shortcoming or inability to recognise forward collision that cost a human’s life. What kind of law was that?
Is like they said, USAF drone pilots ain’t responsible for collateral damages on civilians killed. So if any hacker were to take control of the car and kill someone, he can’t be held responsible.