According to police, Uber’s self-driving car was traveling at a speed of 40 mph when it fatally struck a 49-year-old woman in Arizona Sunday night. The pedestrian, Elaine Herzberg, was pushing a bicycle across the road at the time of the accident. She was transported to the hospital, where she later died. There was a safety driver behind the wheel of the vehicle, identified as Rafael Vasquez, 44, and there is no sign that the driver was impaired. An Uber spokesperson confirmed that Vasquez is employed as a safety driver by the company. At the time of the crash, the vehicle was traveling in autonomous mode. The accident has caused intense scrutiny because it is likely the first time that a human pedestrian has been killed by an autonomous vehicle. Supporters of the self-driving technology claim that it could be an antidote to the tens of thousands of traffic fatalities that occur every year. But some safety advocates have expressed concerns over how quickly these vehicles are being pushed onto public roads for testing. Uber suspended all of its self-driving testing in cities across the country in the wake of the crash.
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