Woman in self-driving car pleads guilty for first death caused by fully autonomous vehicle.
Backup Uber Driver Pleads Guilty in First Fatal Collision Involving Self-Driving Car
The backup Uber driver for a self-driving vehicle that tragically killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in 2018 has pleaded guilty to endangerment. This marks the first fatal collision involving a fully autonomous car.
Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Garbarino, who accepted the plea agreement, has sentenced Rafaela Vasquez, 49, to three years of supervised probation for the crash that took the life of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg.
Vasquez told police that Herzberg “came out of nowhere” and that she didn’t see Herzberg before the collision on a darkened Tempe street on March 18, 2018.
Vasquez had initially been charged with negligent homicide, a felony. However, she pleaded guilty to an undesignated felony, which could be reclassified as a misdemeanor upon completion of her probation.
Authorities revealed that Vasquez was streaming the television show “The Voice” on a phone and looking down moments before Uber’s Volvo XC-90 SUV struck Herzberg, who was crossing the street with her bicycle.
Vasquez’s attorneys argued that she was looking at a messaging program used by Uber employees on a work cellphone that was on her right knee. They clarified that the TV show was playing on her personal cellphone, which was on the passenger seat.
Defense attorney Albert Jaynes Morrison pointed out that Uber should share some blame for the collision, as he requested the judge to sentence Vasquez to six months of unsupervised probation. He argued that Uber failed to take necessary steps, such as having a second employee in the vehicle, and that the collision was inevitable.
Prosecutors declined to file criminal charges against Uber as a corporation. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that Vasquez’s failure to monitor the road was the primary cause of the crash.
“The defendant had one job and one job only,” prosecutor Tiffany Brady emphasized. “And that was to keep her eyes on the road.”
Contributing Factors and Industry Impact
The NTSB cited several contributing factors to the collision, including Uber’s inadequate safety procedures and ineffective oversight of its drivers, Herzberg’s decision to cross the street outside of a crosswalk, and the Arizona Department of Transportation’s insufficient oversight of autonomous vehicle testing.
The board also determined that Uber’s deactivation of its automatic emergency braking system increased the risks associated with testing automated vehicles on public roads. Instead of relying on the system, Uber relied on the human backup driver to intervene.
This was not the first crash involving an Uber autonomous test vehicle. In March 2017, an Uber SUV flipped onto its side in Tempe after colliding with another vehicle. Fortunately, no serious injuries were reported, and the driver of the other car received a citation.
While Herzberg’s death was the first involving an autonomous test vehicle, it was not the first in a car with self-driving features. In 2016, the driver of a Tesla Model S was killed when his car, operating on its Autopilot system, crashed into a semitrailer in Florida.
Following Herzberg’s death, Uber withdrew its self-driving cars from Arizona, and then-Gov. Doug Ducey prohibited the company from continuing its tests of self-driving cars.
Vasquez had previously served over four years in prison for two felony convictions before becoming an Uber driver. These convictions included making false statements when obtaining unemployment benefits and attempted armed robbery.
The Western Journal has reviewed this Associated Press story and may have altered it prior to publication to ensure that it meets our editorial standards.
The post Woman in Self-Driving Vehicle Pleads Guilty After First Death by Fully Autonomous Car appeared first on The Western Journal.
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