Woman killed by Uber self-driving car as she was crossing street with bike identified
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A woman killed by a self-driving Uber car as she crossed the road has been identified.
Elaine Herzberg, 49, was crossing a four-lane road in the city of Phoenix, Arizona, when she was struck by the autonomous vehicle.
The robot car is still in the testing phase and had a human driver also at the wheel at the time in case of emergency.
The exact circumstances of the crash remain unclear, but Uber has suspended all testing of self-driving cars in Arizona, Pittsburgh and Toronto.
Experts claim the new technology will drastically cut down on motor vehicle fatalities in the future.
But Monday’s fatal accident has sparked fresh debate about whether self-driving cars can be trusted.
"This tragic accident underscores why we need to be exceptionally cautious when testing and deploying autonomous vehicle technologies on public roads," said Democratic Senator Edward Markey, a member of the transportation committee, in a statement.
Elaine Herzberg, 49, was walking her bicycle away from a designated crossing in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe about 10 pm on Sunday night when she was struck by the Uber vehicle traveling at about 40 miles per hour, police said.
The car was in autonomous mode with an operator behind the wheel.
Herzberg later died from her injuries in a hospital.
Local television footage of the scene showed a crumpled bike and a Volvo XC90 SUV with a smashed-in front.
Volvo, the Swedish car brand owned by China’s Geely, confirmed its vehicle was involved in the crash but said the software controlling the SUV was not its own.
U.S. federal safety regulators were sending teams to investigate the crash.
Canada’s transportation ministry in Ontario, where Uber conducts testing, also said it was reviewing the accident.
Uber and Waymo on Friday urged Congress to pass sweeping legislation to speed the introduction of self-driving cars into the United States.
Some congressional Democrats have blocked the legislation over safety concerns, and Monday’s fatality could hamper passage of the bill, congressional aides said Monday.
Safety advocates called for a national moratorium on all robot car testing on public roads.
"Arizona has been the wild west of robot car testing with virtually no regulations in place," said Consumer Watchdog, a non-profit consumer advocacy group, in a statement.
(Image: REUTERS)
"That’s why Uber and Waymo test there. When there’s no sheriff in town, people get killed."
Arizona has opened its arms to companies testing self-driving vehicles as a means to economic growth and jobs.
Republican Governor Doug Ducey reached out to Uber in 2016 after California regulators cracked down on the company over its failure to obtain testing permits.
Self-driving cars being tested routinely get into minor accidents with other vehicles.
Last week, a self-driving Uber crashed with another vehicle in Pittsburgh, local news reported. There were no injuries.
A year ago, Uber temporarily grounded its self-driving cars for a few days following a crash with another car in Tempe.
The company has been the subject of a number of complaints about its autonomous vehicles, but the company has said the cars were being driven by a human driver at the time of the incidents.
Uber has said its ability to build autonomous cars is essential to its success in the rapidly changing transportation industry.
The company envisions a network of autonomous cars that would be summoned through the Uber app that would supplement - and eventually replace - human-driven cars.