The Uber drone knocked down a pedestrian

20 March 2018

This is the first such case in the history of test drones

Uber is not the first year tests the prototypes of unmanned vehicles on the streets of the United States. Last week the company even announced the beginning test truck with Autonomous control. However, waiting for a light unmanned future marred by the sad news: Uber car, computer controlled, hit a woman crossing the road in one of the towns of Arizona. She later died in hospital from his injuries.

According to the police report, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg (Herzberg Elaine) at about ten o'clock in the evening moved next to a pedestrian crossing on a four-lane road in Tempe, a suburb of Phoenix. She was hit by a car Uber. Crossover Volvo XC90 was in the Autonomous control mode, but in the driver's seat sat an operator.

"the Pedestrian was outside the crosswalk. As soon as she walked in the traffic lane, she was shot down", — told the press a police Sergeant of the town Pace Elcock Ronald (Ronald Elcock). He stated that he does not know how close the woman was to the car when she went out on the roadway.

The head of the Tempe police Sylvia moir (Silvia Moyer) in an interview with the newspaper San Francisco Chronicle reported that after watching the video, shot from the car, "it becomes obvious that this collision would be very difficult to avoid in any mode (Autonomous or manual), given that it came out of the shadows directly on the road".

"This tragic accident underscores why we must be extremely careful when testing and deployment of Autonomous vehicle technologies on public roads," said the Senator from Democrats Edward Markey (Edward Markey).

Immediately after news of the incident Uber has completely suspended the testing of its unmanned vehicles. In the company's statement while few specifics: "We bring condolences to the family of the victim. We are cooperating fully with local authorities in their investigation of this incident".

In turn, Volvo said that the software driving the car at the time of collision, does not belong to her. It is unlikely in this case, blame the Swedish company is that the murder of the gun to judge it.