An Arizona woman was struck and killed by an Uber vehicle operating in autonomous mode leading the company to suspend its autonomous testing in the U.S. and Canada.
The 49-year-old was crossing a public road at 10 p.m. on March 18 when an Uber Volvo XC90 SUV, supervised by a human driver, hit the pedestrian, according to the Arizona Tempe Police Department report.
Uber's autonomous vehicle testing on public roads in Pittsburgh, San Francisco, Toronto and Tempe, Arizona has been suspended following the incident.
“Our hearts go out to the victim’s family. We are fully cooperating with [the Tempe Police Department] and local authorities as they investigate this incident,” Uber tweeted from the company's official communications twitter account.
The National Transportation Safety Board has opened an investigation into the death, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration sent a crash investigation team to the site.