By Chuck Martin
Uber will not be prosecuted for the fatal accident in Tempe, Arizona, where an Uber vehicle running in fully autonomous mode struck and killed a pedestrian.
Following an investigation, the Yuvapai County Attorney found that Uber was not criminally liable for the accident.
The Uber vehicle in the accident had internal and external cameras running at the time.
“Based on the entire investigation, this office has concluded that the collision video, as it displays, likely does not accurately depict the events that occurred,” Sheila Sullivan Polk, Yavapai county attorney, stated in a letter detailing the findings.
The county attorney recommended that the Tempe Police Department conduct an expert analysis of the video to closely match what and when the backup driver in the vehicle would or should have seen on the night of the accident in relation to the vehicle’s speed, lighting conditions and other factors.
The accident temporarily halted several autonomous vehicle trials at the time.
