Uber Halts Self-Driving Cars Following Death
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A self-driving Uber killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, and the company is trying to understand what happened. In the meantime, CEO Dara Khosrowshahi posted condolences on Twitter. An Uber spokesperson also made this statement:
“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident.”
Apparently, a woman walked suddenly in front of the vehicle, and the local chief of police said, "It’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode." A human backup driver, who was in the driver's seat without control over the car, confirmed the report. The first sign of trouble was the actual collision.
As a result of the accident, Uber announced it will stop all testing of autonomous cars. In California, autonomous Ubers were set to launch without human backups, but this may be delayed.
Discussion:
- Assess the company's response to the news. We don't see an apology, per se. Should we?
- How can the company rebuild trust in self-driving cars after this incident?
