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Feds: Uber self-driving SUV saw pedestrian but didn't brake

Published  May 24, 2018 7:00am MST
Anita Roman's Reports
FOX 10 Phoenix

DETROIT (AP) - Federal investigators say the autonomous Uber SUV that struck and killed an Arizona pedestrian in March spotted the woman about six seconds before hitting her, but didn't stop because emergency braking was disabled.

In a preliminary report on the crash, the National Transportation Safety Board said Thursday that emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while Uber's cars are under computer control, because it reduces the potential for erratic behavior.

Instead, Uber relies on a human backup driver to intervene. The system, however, is not designed to alert the driver.

In the March crash, the driver began steering less than a second before impact but didn't brake until less than a second after impact.

A video of the crash showed the driver looking down just before the woman was hit.

According to NTSB, the test car was going 43 miles per hour down Mill Avenue, near Curry, and the self-driving system spotted a pedestrian crossing about six seconds before the accident. Based on calculations, it takes about 378 feet before impact, at that speed.

Then, 1.3 seconds before the crash, or about 81 feet before impact, the self-driving system determined the emergency braking should come on, but that didn't happen, as Uber had disabled the Volvo car's automatic emergency braking system.

Assistant Professor Ashraf Gaffar runs a driving simulator at Arizona State University's Polytechnic Campus in Mesa, and studies self-driving technology. While Uber had a human driver in the test car, and Asst. Prof. Gaffar says she took her eyes off the road far too long.

"The problem, one of the problems is she was looking down five to six seconds. That is too much," said Asst. Prof. Gaffar.

Uber declined an interview about the NTSB findings, but said in a statement:

The report by the federal government notes the pedestrian in the accident was dressed in dark clothes, not in the crosswalk, and tested positive for methamphetamine and marijuana.