More than a second before a self-driving car operated by Uber struck and killed a pedestrian in March, the vehicle's computer system determined it needed to brake to avoid a crash. But a built-in emergency braking system had been disabled while the car was in autonomous mode to ensure a smoother ride, according to the preliminary report of federal regulators investigating the crash.
The initial findings, released today by the National Transportation Safety Board, confirmed early police reports about the episode, which was the first known pedestrian fatality involving an autonomous car.
The report also affirmed what many experts on self-driving cars said in the days after the crash: Uber’s cars are loaded with sensors and cameras that should have detected a pedestrian with plenty of time to stop. But this one failed through a combination of a computer system not responding properly to the pedestrian’s presence and a distracted safety driver.
The safety board said the Uber car's computer system spotted 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg pushing a bicycle across a road at night in Tempe, Arizona, six seconds before impact. The system classified Herzberg, who was not in a crosswalk, first as an unrecognised object, then as another vehicle and finally as a bicycle. But it did not slow down before barreling into her at 60kmh. The car's software system is not designed to alert the driver of an object in the road.
The Uber car, a Volvo XC90 SUV equipped with Uber's sensing technology, comes with an automatic emergency braking system from the manufacturer.
But Uber disabled that function as well as other safety features to "reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior," according to the report.
This put the onus on the safety driver to intervene to avoid a crash if necessary.
The agency said Uber's safety driver, who was not impaired, grabbed the steering wheel in an attempt to swerve at the last second but did not start braking until after impact.
The vehicle's operator, who was seen on dashboard cameras looking down and away from the road before the crash, told investigators that she had been monitoring the self-driving car system in the centre of the car's dashboard.
Sarah Abboud, an Uber spokeswoman, said the company had started a review of its self-driving car program and plans to announce changes to its safety procedures in the coming weeks.
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