U.S. Safety Board Wants to Learn Cause of Fatal Uber Autonomous Car Crash

[Leroy N. Soetoro]

https://www.insurancejournal.com/news/national/2019/10/18/545801.htm

The U.S. National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) will hold a Nov. 19
hearing to determine the probable cause of a March 2018 Uber Technologies
Inc. self-driving vehicle crash that killed a pedestrian in Arizona.

The crash, involving a Volvo XC90 sport utility vehicle that Uber was
using to test self-driving technology, was a blow to the autonomous
vehicle industry and led other companies to temporarily halt their
testing.

Elaine Herzberg, 49, was walking her bicycle outside the crosswalk on a
four-lane road when she was struck by the Uber vehicle traveling 39 miles
per hour (63 kph).

Her death, the first attributed to a self-driving vehicle, prompted
significant safety concerns about the nascent self-driving car industry,
which is working to get vehicles into commercial use.

An Uber spokeswoman declined to comment.

In December, Uber resumed limited self-driving car testing on public roads
in Pittsburgh, with some significant additional safeguards after an
internal safety review.

Since the crash, several companies – including General Motors Co – have
pushed back their timetables to get driverless vehicles without steering
wheels into commercial use.

In March, prosecutors in Arizona said Uber was not criminally liable in
the self-driving crash and they would not pursue charges.

In July, police in Tempe closed a street to conduct a lighting test as it
investigated whether the Uber safety driver who was behind the wheel and
supposed to respond in the event of an emergency should face criminal
charges.

Police have said the crash was “entirely avoidable” and that the backup
driver was watching “The Voice” TV program at the time of the crash.

Uber ended testing in Arizona but plans to eventually resume testing in
Toronto and San Francisco.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is also investigating.

The NTSB said in 2018 that Uber had disabled an emergency braking system
in the modified 2017 Volvo XC90 test vehicle. The vehicle that struck and
killed the pedestrian had identified the need to apply the brakes, the
report said.

The preliminary report disclosed the vehicle’s radar systems observed the
pedestrian six seconds before impact but “the self-driving system software
classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, as a vehicle, and then as
a bicycle with varying expectations of future travel path.”

(Reporting by David Shepardson; Editing by Peter Cooney)



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