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Uber Self-Driving Vehicle Hits, Kills Pedestrian In Tempe

Tempe Sgt. Ronald Elcock
(Photo by Casey Kuhn - KJZZ)
Tempe Sgt. Ronald Elcock speaks to the media on March 19, 2018.

A 49-year-old woman died after she was struck by a self-driving Uber car whilecrossing a street late Sunday night.

Tempe police say early investigations show the car was going around 40 miles per hour with no significant signs of slowing down before hitting Elaine Herzberg.

Herzberg was crossing Mill Avenue near Curry Road with a bicycle and was not in a crosswalk.

The car was in autonomous mode with 44-year-old Rafael Vasquez behind the wheel.

This is the second accident involving an Uber self-driving car in Tempe, and the first fatality.

“They are going to attempt to try to find who was possibly at fault and how we can better be safe. Whether it’s pedestrians or whether it’s the vehicle itself," said Tempe police spokesman Ronald Elcock.

Elcock said Monday neither the victim nor the driver seemed impaired.

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Casey Kuhn was a senior field correspondent at KJZZ from 2015 to 2019.