Articles Tagged with Elaine Herzberg

Autonomous Vehicle Safety Questioned in Federal Ruling

The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) called Uber’s autonomous vehicle safety culture ineffective in a ruling handed down on November 19. The ruling was in reference to an accident that occurred in March 2018 when one of Uber’s test vehicles hit and killed a woman crossing the road. Robert Sumwalt, Chairman of the Board, said that Uber relied on the backup driver in this case rather than using an emergency braking system built into the vehicle. He also said that Uber did not monitor its cars on a continuous basis, nor did their vehicles have the automatic braking ability. The NTSB urged government agencies to become involved in regulating autonomous vehicle testing in the United States.

Uber Accident Investigation Continues

An Uber accident that happened in March 2018 is the focus of a new investigation by police. Recent testing was done close to the accident site in Tempe, Arizona, where a pedestrian was killed by an Uber self-driving vehicle with a backup driver on board last year. An investigation by the Tempe Police in 2018 concluded that the accident was avoidable. In March, the prosecutor’s office said that Uber was not at fault. Now, culpability is directed toward the backup driver, Rafaela Vasquez, 45. The Maricopa County attorney’s office verified that prosecutors asked for additional information before making a decision to charge the backup driver. 

The Good and Bad of Autonomous Vehicles

In 2018, there were numerous breakthroughs and downfalls for self-driving cars. It is without a doubt self-driving cars hold the potential to reduce car accidents and save tons of lives, but only if they are programmed to be in sync with all other vehicles on the road. As driverless cars went from a startup prototype to reality, the rest of the world is now wondering where this technology will be heading. Many questions concerning autonomous vehicles remain unanswered as we wait to see further technological development. Below is a recap of the big moments for driverless vehicles in 2018.

Uber Revamps Approach to Autonomous Vehicle Testing

For the first four months following the tragic autonomous Uber car accident that killed one pedestrian in Arizona, the company’s driver-less vehicle technology was extracted from public roads. Arizona state governor Doug Ducey banned Uber from testing any more vehicles in the state, Uber did not renew their testing permit for California, and they pulled their cars off the roads in Pittsburgh. However, it was recently publicly announced that Uber’s autonomous vehicles would be returning to Pittsburgh. It is worth noting that their return is marked by one condition: the vehicles will be functioning manually (human-driven). What this means is that, for now, their cars will only be on the road to collect data for mapping and training purposes.

Self-Driving Car Crash Kills Pedestrian

Pedestrian Killed by Self-Driving Car

An accident in Arizona on March 18, where Uber is testing its autonomous vehicles, caused the death of a pedestrian. Uber has stopped all testing of its self-driving vehicles in several cities while an investigation into the accident is ongoing.

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