Self-driving Uber program stopped in Toronto after US woman killed in accident
An American woman has died after being struck by a self-driving Uber vehicle in Arizona, prompting the company to stop its self-driving operations in Toronto.
According to police in Tempe, Arizona the accident happened overnight on Sunday.
“The vehicle involved is one of Uber’s self-driving vehicles. It was in autonomous mode at the time of the collision, with a vehicle operator behind the wheel,” said police.
The vehicle was travelling northbound on a Tempe road when a female walking outside of the crosswalk crossed the road from west to east when she was struck by the Uber vehicle.
Police say she was transported to a local area hospital where she succumbed to injuries.
In a statement, Uber sent condolences to the victim’s family, and said they are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation.
Uber has confirmed it has stopped its self-driving operations in Phoenix, Pittsburgh, SF, and Toronto, adding that this response is standard procedure.
Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We’re fully cooperating with @TempePolice and local authorities as they investigate this incident.
— Uber Comms (@Uber_Comms) March 19, 2018
Last summer, two Uber vehicles were being driven in manual mode in Toronto to collect data for testing of the company’s self-driving technologies. Manual mode means that it’s a self driving vehicle but the self driving function isn’t turned on.
The cars were operated by specially trained drivers from Pittsburgh and were conducting mapping in and around the U of T campus at the time.