Episode 30, The strange case of death by Uber in Arizona

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Nearly two weeks after a woman was killed by an autonomous Uber vehicle while walking her bicycle across the street at night and outside of a crosswalk in Tempe, Ariz., much is still unknown about the accident.

What is known is that the Governor of Arizona has ended the state’s autonomous vehicle testing program.

The auto-parts maker that supplied the radar and camera on the Volvo SUV that killed the woman has stated they had disabled the standard collision-avoidance technology in the vehicle.

The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board have been investigating the case since.

The local police chief initially called the incident “unavoidable.” But opinions changed after the release of a crash video, which depicts internal and external views of the Uber vehicle. It also shows the car’s safety driver looking down away from the road as a pedestrian suddenly emerges into the headlights.

Bruce Aldrich and I discuss the tragedy in Episode #30 of The Weekly Driver Podcast. Bruce adds thoughtful insight into the situation, particularly his opinion on the future of autonomous driving.

Also in Episode #30, we discuss the 2018 Toyota Land Cruiser and my experience driving the large SUV about 425 miles during a round-trip excursion from Sacramento to Fresno. The Land Cruiser is a gas sucker, but it’s a beautiful, well-appointed small apartment on four wheels.

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All previous episodes of the podcast are available here, The Weekly Driver Podcast