The recent fatal crash involving an autonomous vehicle in the suburbs of Phoenix California just took a new turn following Wednesday evening’s release of the video footage that detailed further on the circumstances surrounding the crash. According to sources, Sylvia Moir, the Tempe Police chief, stated that the video shows a pedestrian walking right from a dark alley into a street on the way of the Uber-designated SUV. Analysis of the circumstance, according to the chief, led to preliminary conclusions that the autonomous vehicle may not have been at fault.
The conditions under which the crash happened may have led to the severity of the accident. In particular, the layout of the area gave the SUV’s radar systems a very limited time of 2 seconds to make a split-second decision, something that would have been impossible to achieve even with human drivers. Confirming this notion, the police say that the SUV’s backup driver appeared in the clip to have been too dazzled during the 2-second period for which the pedestrian walked on the path of the SUV. Had the driver or the SUV had sufficient time, the outcome would as well have been different.
The preliminary verdict of the police was reiterated by various local news agencies including the Arizona Republic which reportedly stated that the accident was unavoidable. Although being the first major autonomous vehicle accident to culminate to a fatality, Uber responded with immediacy, suspending all autonomous SUV testing in Phoenix and its environs. According to the officials of the company, the decision would offer the company sufficient time to conduct its own investigations which would ultimately enable the right corrective measure to be taken.
Interestingly enough, however, the Uber driver involved in the crash may raise additional eyebrows and likely influence the outcome of the full investigation. Rafael Vasquez, whom the local police identified as the Uber driver, bears startling similarities with another namesake involved in numerous criminal acts. Although that it subject to police verification, the outcome of the investigation may as well have some implications on the driver in case of any misdeeds. However, for now, according to the police, the video’s circumstantial evidence in possession of the authorities seem to point towards the fact that the vehicle was in full autonomous mode at the time of the accident, thereby clearing Vasquez of any wrongdoing.
Dil Bole Oberoi
