March 19, 2018, a women in Arizona was struck and killed by a self-driving uber car. It is estimated that this has been the first fatality associated with self-driving technology. Elaine Herzberg was crossing the street when a self-driving uber car, that was going 40 mph, hit her. There was a human safety driving at the wheel, but no other passengers inside.

Authorities on Wednesday released recordings of a dashboard camera, which showed the interior and exterior of the car before the accident. In the video it shows that the human safety drier, which was later identified as Rafael Vasquez, was distracted and looking down from the road. Also, Vasquez did not have both hands hovering above the steering wheel, which is what they are supposed to do, so that when and if they needed to take control of the car it would be easier. The self-driving car however should have detected the women crossing the street. “The driver was there for a reason, he should’ve been paying more attention” Brianna Badillo shared with us.

However, like many self-driving cars, uber equips their cars with something called, lidar sensors. These sensors help detect the environment around the car. A benefit from lidar, is that they are suppose to work well at night and detecting things from hundreds of feet away. “If they are going to start testing self-driving cars out on the road, they should have better and more aware safety humans at the wheel” Brianna mentions. Governments are still trying to figure out how to regulate the technology.