Uber Settles With Family of Woman Killed By Self-Driving Car, Avoids Lawsuit (arstechnica.com)

It appears that Uber won't go to court to settle a lawsuit after one of its self-driving cars killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona earlier this month. An anonymous Slashdot reader shares a report from Ars Technica: Uber has reached a settlement with the family of the woman killed by an Uber self-driving car. Uber reached the settlement with the daughter and husband of Elaine Herzberg, who died at age 49 after being hit by the Uber vehicle in Tempe, Arizona. The settlement presumably includes a cash payment, but no details were provided by either Uber or the family's attorney. "The matter has been resolved," said Christina Perez Hesano, an attorney for Herzberg's family, according to reports by Reuters and NPR.

Comments

Re: needs to go to criminal court

[sonamchauhan]

Uber was speeding 3 mph. Safety driver was looking at lap. Second safety driver was dispensed with. Uber software is known for dangerous bugs (read article on them in MIT review 2 years ago). Though possible for a human, the Uber made no attempt to brake. Kinetic energy due to the excess speed was 17% of impact energy. Braking would have reduced it further. A second safety driven could have called attention. Sticking to speed limit and braking would both have reduced impact energy substantially and may have given the woman valuable reaction time.