In 2018, a fatal accident occurred when a woman in an autonomous test car ran over another woman as she was crossing the street.
An outcry went through the world when the Uber accident happened: The first person to be run over by an autonomous car. It was an Uber test vehicle. A woman was sitting in it, watching an episode of a casting show while driving. So it wasn’t so much the car that made the mistake as much more the driver.
She failed to intervene and ran over the woman who was pushing her bike across the street. The scene of the accident was the city of Tempe, Arizona. Now the driver’s verdict. The court saw this as a threat. The trial began in 2020. Ms. V. was charged with negligent homicide.
The woman failed to pay attention to traffic, so she was hired as a driver. She turned her attention to the smartphone on which she was watching a show. However, the software could not detect any danger, even though it had the woman on the sensors. Although the software recognized the problem for a short time, the autonomous braking system was deactivated.
In this particular case, the responsibility lies with the test person. However, the test concept is also criticized. This also included the fact that it was better to have two test subjects. This was then implemented in other companies as well.
Uber’s autonomous driving program has since been discontinued.