Report: Self-driving Uber Vehicle Involved in Fatal Collision Saw, Ignored Pedestrian

Steph Willems
by Steph Willems

The fatal collision between an autonomous Volvo XC90 operated by Uber Technologies and 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg in March could have been prevented, had the vehicle’s software not dismissed what its sensors saw.

That’s what two sources briefed on the issue told The Information, but Uber isn’t divulging what led to the Tempe, Arizona collision. What it will admit to, however, is the hiring of a former National Transportation Safety Board chair to examine the safety of its self-driving vehicle program.

Uber suspended testing following the March crash. In the aftermath, a video showing the seconds leading up to the impact revealed a vehicle that didn’t react to the victim crossing its path on a darkened road. The Volvo’s headlights pick up Herzberg an instant before the collision, but it’s the forward-facing radar and 360-degree rooftop LIDAR unit that should have identified the woman as an object to be avoided.

Lidar supplier Velodyne denied any flaw in its product following the fatal crash.

Blame the software, the sources claim. Uber reportedly tuned its software to aggressively ignore what the sensors determined to be “false positives,” thus ensuring a smooth ride with fewer unnecessary course corrections or brake applications. An errant plastic shopping bag counts as a false positive. As far as the car’s software was concerned, Herzberg was just such an object, the sources stated.

Uber declined to comment on these claims. On Monday, the company announced the hiring of a safety expert to oversee its autonomous vehicle program.

“We have initiated a top-to-bottom safety review of our self-driving vehicles program, and we have brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture,” Uber said. “Our review is looking at everything from the safety of our system to our training processes for vehicle operators, and we hope to have more to say soon.”

A preliminary report on the Tempe crash should emerge from the NTSB “in the coming weeks,” a spokesperson told Reuters.

[Image: Uber]

Steph Willems
Steph Willems

More by Steph Willems

Comments
Join the conversation
3 of 30 comments
  • JGMotorsport64 JGMotorsport64 on May 09, 2018

    What is the point of a self driving car if the driver has to babysit it? I’d rather just drive it.

    • Luke42 Luke42 on May 10, 2018

      On long highway drives, babysitting the car is less mentally taxing than driving. You get tired faster when driving. (We have Honda Sensing in one if our cars, and we miss it when we take our other (bigger) car places.) There was also a situation recently where I was running under adaptive cruise control, and I had to multitask -- because the traffic around me slowed down dramstically for a non-obvious reason. I was able to let the adaptive cruise keep my off the bumper of the car in front of me while I swiveled my head around trying to figure out WTF was going to happen next. I was able figure our out more quickly and make a better decision, because I actually understood who slammed on their brakes and why.

  • Voyager Voyager on May 10, 2018

    UBER should reconsider the use of SUVs altogether. One of the key findings was that not only are crashes involving pedestrians increasing, they are becoming more deadly when they do occur. The share of pedestrian crashes that were fatal increased 29 percent during the study period. One culprit, according to the study, was SUV drivers. https://usa.streetsblog.org/2018/05/09/study-links-rise-of-suvs-to-the-pedestrian-safety-crisis/

  • 1995 SC At least you can still get one. There isn't much for Ford folks to be happy about nowadays, but the existence of the Mustang and the fact that the lessons from back in the 90s when Ford tried to kill it and replace it with the then flavor of the day seem to have been learned (the only lessons they seem to remember) are a win not only for Ford folks but for car people in general. One day my Super Coupe will pop its headgaskets (I know it will...I read it on the Internet). I hope I will still be physically up to dropping the supercharged Terminator Cobra motor into it. in all seriousness, The Mustang is a.win for car guys.
  • Lorenzo Heh. The major powers, military or economic, set up these regulators for the smaller countries - the big guys do what they want, and always have. Are the Chinese that unaware?
  • Lorenzo The original 4-Runner, by its very name, promised something different in the future. What happened?
  • Lorenzo At my age, excitement is dangerous. one thing to note: the older models being displayed are more stylish than their current versions, and the old Subaru Forester looks more utilitarian than the current version. I thought the annual model change was dead.
  • Lorenzo Well, it was never an off-roader, much less a military vehicle, so let the people with too much money play make believe.
Next