After what appears to be the first ever pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous vehicle Uber has hit the brakes on its self-driving car tests. The Tempe Police Department has confirmed that the Uber vehicle, a 2017 Volvo SUV was in autonomous mode with a human monitor behind the wheel when it struck the woman, Elaine Herzberg. Police said that Herzberg, who later tragically died in hospital had been crossing the street with her bicycle outside of the crosswalk when the car fatally struck her.

According to Tempe Sergent Ronald Elcock, who has watched the collision footage, which has not been released to the public the car travelling at 40mph did not appear to slow down as it approached Herzberg. The human monitor/operator of the car has been identified by police as Rafael Vasquez, he was described by Elcock as cooperative and showing no signs of impairment.

Tempe Police Chief Sylvia Moir said of the footage that this collision would have been difficult to avoid in any mode human or driverless as Herzberg had emerged from the shadows right into the roadway Moir added: “I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident.”

The investigation is still in progress and the report will be submitted to the Maricopa County Attorney’s office as the Tempe Police Department does not determine the fault in vehicle collisions. The US National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have already confirmed that they plan to send teams to Tempe.

Uber’s Response

In response to the incident, Uber has suspended its self-driving car operations in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto. Uber Chief Dara Khosrowshahi tweeted in response to the death: “Some incredibly sad news out of Arizona. We’re thinking of the victim’s family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened.”

Uber rolled out its first driverless fleet of cars in 2016 in Pittsburgh and clocked over 2 million self-driving miles during the month of December. There have been other crashes involving its autonomous cars, but none have resulted in fatalities. Uber was quick to place the blame squarely on the drivers, not the tech, which in turn has raised the issue over where liability lies with driverless cars.

Stoking Fears Over Autonomous Cars

This is not the first-time autonomous vehicles have been the subject of controversy, in 2016 Tesla came under heavy scrutiny after one of its cars while in self-driving mode (a semi-autonomous mode) crashed and killed its driver. The car’s cameras failed to recognise the side of a turning tractor, mistaking it for bright light and thus did not brake killing its driver Joshua Brown. However, safety regulators did not find Tesla at fault for the incident.

This most recent event has the potential to derail Uber’s plans to create a network of driver-less cars. It could also have damaging fallout for a technology that was meant to transform the transport industry by removing the human element and ultimately making driving safer. Critics ask how these vehicles can be safely deployed if they cannot respond to unexpected elements such as jaywalkers and cyclists.

Calls for Better Regulation and Control

Privacy and Technology Project Director with Consumer Watchdog, John M Simpson said: “The robot cars cannot accurately predict human behaviour, and the real problem comes in the interaction between humans and the robot vehicles. The technology is not ready for it yet, and this just sadly proves it.”

Michael G Bennett, an Arizona State University Associate Research Professor who studies autonomous cars said: “It may be problematic for the industry because one of their central arguments for the value of the technology is that it is superior to human drivers. Every day, pedestrians in cities around the world step outside of the crosswalk.”

Anthony Foxx, the US Secretary of Transportation under former President Barack Obama, said the incident was a “wake up call to the entire (autonomous vehicle) industry and government to put a high priority on safety.”

Democratic Senator Edward Markey, a member of the transportation committee said: “This tragic accident underscores why we need to be exceptionally cautious when testing and deploying autonomous vehicle technologies on public roads.”