The woman at the helm of a self-driving Uber that fatally struck a pedestrian in March — was streaming “The Voice” on her phone right up until the fatal crash, police said.
The so-called “safety” driver, Rafaela Vasquez, was repeatedly looked down to catch the Hulu show, glancing up just a half second before the car hit Elaine Herzberg, who was crossing the street in Tempe, Az., the night of March 18, according to a 318-page report by the Tempe Police Department.
Based on the police investigation, the crash would have been “entirely avoidable” had Vasquez simply been paying attention.
She could now face charges of vehicular manslaughter, if the Yavapai County Attorney’s office pursues the case.
Uber’s Volvo SUV was in autonomous mode at the time of the crash, but the San Francisco-based company, like other self-driving vehicle developers, requires a backup driver to intervene when the system fails or there’s a tricky driving situation.
Vasquez looked up just 0.5 seconds before the crash, after keeping her head down for 5.3 seconds while going 44 miles an hour, the Tempe Police report said.
Video from inside the care showed her face “appears to react and show a smirk or laugh at various points during the times that she is looking down.” She was distracted for seven of the nearly 22 minutes prior to the collision.
The company prohibits the use of any mobile device by safety drivers at the wheel of self-driving Ubers – and motorists can be fired for breaking this rule.
Uber declined to comment.
Tempe Police Detective Michael McCormick asked Hulu for help in the investigation on May 10 and the streaming service turned over the record on May 30.
Vasquez told federal investigators at the National Transportation Safety Board that she wasn’t using a personal or business phone at the time of the crash.
According to a report by the agency last month, Uber had disabled the emergency braking system in the Volvo and Vasquez hit the brakes less than a second after colliding with Herzberg.
Herzberg, who was homeless, was walking her bike across the street outside of a crosswalk on a four-lane road when she was hit.
Uber shuttered its self-driving car testing program in Arizona after the incident. The company said it plans to start testing again somewhere else this summer.
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