Uber’s Self-Driving Test Vehicle Involved in Fatal Accident in Arizona

According to local law enforcement in Arizona, an Uber self-driving test vehicle hit and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona. The victim, Elaine Herzberg, was pushing a bicycle across four lanes of traffic outside of a crosswalk when the car, a Volvo XC90 modified by Uber, struck her. The vehicle was operating in self-driving mode with a human driver behind the wheel. The accident occurred at around 10 p.m. on Sunday with the car traveling at 65 km/h. Emergency responders were not able to revive the victim after being transported to the hospital. In response to the accident, Uber has suspended its self-driving vehicle program in all cities.

You can see images of the accident site and the vehicle involved in the accident from the New York Times. Uber’s self-driving fleet has been in testing mode for several years now and currently utilizes modified Volvo XC90 SUVs for testing.

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![▲ Accident site, image from NYT](https://upload.42how.com/article/image_20220202220752.png)

![▲ Accident scene vehicle](https://upload.42how.com/wechat_post/k2ptdcp3mipjsxdjkbrv4lra724xv1wl.jpeg)

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![▲ Uber Orders 24,000 XC90s from Volvo for Self-Driving Tests](https://upload.42how.com/wechat_post/bumd23lu4bthgdi9al74gnjqugumkaqy.jpeg)

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This is a statement from the police in Arizona, USA.

After the accident, Uber halted testing of self-driving vehicles in Arizona, San Francisco, Pittsburgh, and Toronto, and issued an official apology via Twitter, stating they will actively cooperate with the police investigation.

Volvo acknowledged the source of the vehicle, but also stated that the vehicle had been modified by Uber, and that the software system is no longer part of the official Volvo configuration.

This is the world’s first fatal accident caused by a self-driving vehicle.

The focus of the accident is:

1. At night with poor lighting, Uber’s self-driving vehicle cannot detect pedestrians and bicycles in front of it in a timely manner and slow down.

2. There was a driver in the vehicle who could not judge whether the driver saw the pedestrian in time or not, or whether he saw it and did not take over the vehicle in time.

3. The occurrence of this accident also involves several responsible parties, such as vehicle manufacturers, software modification companies, and drivers. At the same time, a new question arises: Are software engineers responsible for the accident?

4. In the context where self-driving vehicle technology is not yet mature, should the relaxed conditions for autonomous vehicle testing be tightened for bad weather and environmental conditions?

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This article is a translation by ChatGPT of a Chinese report from 42HOW. If you have any questions about it, please email bd@42how.com.