Uber avoids criminal liability following fatal self-driving car collision
Uber has been cleared of liability by a US court after one of its self-driving cars struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in March.
A letter from the Yavapai County attorney, made public today, said there was “no basis for criminal liability” for Uber, but that the back-up driver, Rafaela Vasquez, should be referred to police for further investigation.
Read more: Self-driving cars to hit UK roads by the end of the year
The crash involved a Volvo XC90 that Uber was using to test self-driving technology.
The car hit and killed 49-year old Elaine Herzberg while it was in autonomous mode with a human monitor behind the wheel.
Uber suspended its self-driving car testing programme after the incident and it still remains drastically scaled back.
Read more: Uber considers minority stake sell-off for self-driving unit
The collision also had a knock on effect on the wider autonomous vehicle industry and led to other companies halting their testing temporarily.
Vasquez, the back-up driver, could face charges of vehicular manslaughter, according to a June police report