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Police chief: Uber self-driving car may not be at fault in fatal Arizona crash
Uber is trying to make amends one step at a time. As a follow-up to the ride-sharing company's new seat belt warning, its cellphone app now includes a direct method to allow riders to contact 911 at the press of a virtual button.
The Panic Button, as Uber calls it, is located in a "safety center" accessible via the home screen. The new menu also lists information about the screening process for drivers, insurance and community guidelines. The panic button is now live throughout the U.S. for riders and Uber says that drivers will get one on their screens soon, too.
To call 911, customers simply need to need to swipe up from the new safety center icon, tap “911 assistance” and confirm the call is intentional to avoid accidental dials.
Uber also announced a pilot program in select cities that will send location and trip details directly to 911 dispatchers to help them receive more accurate readings from distress calls. The trial is set to run in Denver, Nashville, Charleston, South Carolina, Chattanooga, Tennessee, and Naples, Florida
Additions to the app are part of Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi's initiative to improve the company's safety record after a period of controversy and a corporate shakeup last year. One of the company's self-driving Volvo XC90 vehicles fatally struck a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, in March and a federal investigation remains ongoing.
The Uber test car involved in a fatal crash in Tempe, Arizona, may not be at fault, the city's police chief said Tuesday. Tempe police chief Sylvia Moir chief instead suggested that the impact between a pedestrian and a Volvo XC90 equipped with self-driving technology couldn't have been avoided, even by the human backup driver inside the vehicle.
“I suspect preliminarily it appears that the Uber would likely not be at fault in this accident,” Moir told the San Francisco Chronicle, adding, “I won’t rule out the potential to file charges against the [backup driver] in the Uber vehicle.”
MORE: Feds descend on Tempe to investigate fatal self-driving car crash
While pushing a bicycle across a street, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg was killed when the Uber Volvo XC test vehicle struck her.
Police in Tempe have viewed footage from two of the vehicle’s cameras, one facing forward toward the street and the other inside the car facing the driver. Based on the footage, Moir suggested that the driver had little time to react.
“The driver said it was like a flash, the person walked out in front of them,” she said. “His first alert to the collision was the sound of the collision.”
Moir added, “It’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode [autonomous or human-driven] based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.”
Moir’s comments may contradict Arizona’s recently updated rules governing the testing of autonomous vehicles on public roads. The executive order, issued by Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey in March, stipulates that a company is liable if one of its self-driving vehicles negligently kills a person. The corporation that operates the vehicles would be responsible, the governor’s office says, and the company could be held criminally liable just like a person.
Tempe police are collaborating with the NHTSA and the NTSB in the investigation. The Maricopa County attorney will be responsible for filing any charges at the conclusion of the police department investigation.
-- by Ruben Porras.
