In what could be the first fatal accident involving an autonomous vehicle, a woman was hit by a test vehicle today. The driverless car, operated by Uber, knocked down the pedestrian while she was crossing the street in Tempe. The incident made the ride-hailing company to discontinue all the tests on its self-driving car fleet.
Though the operator of the vehicle was in the driver’s seat when the mishap occurred, he could not do much as the car was in the self-driving mode. The woman died at the hospital where she was admitted with fatal injuries.
This accident came as a heavy blow to Uber, which had only recently settled a long-drawn legal battle with Waymo. A year ago, Uber was forced to pull its fleet following an accident involving one of its driverless vehicles during the test.
The incident made the ride-hailing company to discontinue all the tests on its self-driving car fleet
The self-driving technology suffered the first major setback nearly two years ago when entrepreneur Joshua Brown died in a crash while riding a Tesla Model S in autopilot mode.
The accident occurred after the vehicle’s sensors failed to detect a white tractor moving on the road against a clear sky, casting serious doubts over the reliability of the technology. While soft-pedaling the accident, the company acknowledged that the autopilot technology was still evolving and required the driver to be attentive during the journey.