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

needs to go to criminal court

[Joe_Dragon]

needs to go to criminal court

Re:needs to go to criminal court

[amicusNYCL]

It seems like everyone except you knows that these cars, like literally every other computer, are only capable of doing what they were programmed to do (and, even then, only if every part of the system is working). It also seems like everyone except you also understands that progress is going to continue, there are multiple competing technologies or companies, and that progress is going to reduce the overall rate of deaths from car accidents at some point in the future. Just because we aren't at that point yet is no reason to issue some sort of blanket ban.

I can see why the husband might...

[uncqual]

...reach a settlement, but why would the daughter participate?

The damage to the car didn't look all that extensive - although perhaps some expensive sensors were damaged. I believe Arizona is a community property state so the husband may be obligated to pay for damages caused by the his wife's illegal jaywalking, but if the husband couldn't afford to pay for repairs, why would the daughter help out -- she has no legal obligation to do so.