Uber self-driving car causes first death

A self-driving Uber car hit a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona earlier this week as she was crossing the street, according to the Tempe police department.

The car struck the victim, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, when it was going 40 mph in 35 mph zone. The car was in self-driving mode, but test driver Rafael Vasquez was behind the wheel.

In response to the accident, Uber has stopped testing their self-driving cars throughout the United States and Canada. Uber’s CEO, Dara Khosrowshahi, said on Twitter,” Some incredibly sad news out of Arizona. We’re thinking of the victim’s family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened.”

The National Transportation Safety Board said it was launching an investigation into the incident, and the Maricopa County Attorney’s Office is looking into whether or not charges will be filed.

This crash was likely the first pedestrian crash by an autonomous vehicle since self-driving cars companies, like Waymo and Google, began test-driving their vehicles. In 2016, a driver was killed in a semi-autonomous Tesla in Florida.