A car without a driver, her companyUber struck and killed a woman pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, marking the world's first fatality caused by an autonomous vehicle.
The accident revealed today the company itself Uber, and the accident took place while the car was in autonomous (self-driving) operation. The local TV station ABC15 reported that the victim was 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. The Uber vehicle hit Herzberg while she was crossing the road outside the pedestrian crossing.
The woman was transported by ambulance to a hospital, but succumbed to her injuries. The vehicle that caused the accident was a Volvo XC90 SUV. The National Transport Safety Council said on Twitter that he sent a team to investigate the accident.
The company suspended the automatic program driving και απέσυρε όλα τα αυτόνομα cars from US roads.
For the record, the company launched its research program in 2015 and developed cars on the streets of Phoenix, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto. Just two weeks ago, the company reported that self-propelled trucks were successfully transporting their cargo.
Tempe and Arizona entered recently στην λίστα των δοκιμαστικών ταξιδιών με αυτόνομη οδήγηση λόγω των νόμων της πολιτείας που επέτρεψαν τα αυτόνομα αυτοκίνητα στους αστικούς δρόμους. Η Uber άρχισε να δοκιμάζει τέτοιου είδους αυτοκίνητα στο Τέμπε τον Φεβρουάριο του 2017. Το αντίστοιχο αυτοκίνητο της Google λειτουργεί εδώ και χρόνια στην πολιτεία. Η Uber δοκιμάζει επίσης το αυτοκινούμενο truck on the streets of Arizona.
So far, all road accidents concerning autonomous cars were small, which have been caused mainly by other drivers.
