An Uber driverless car that struck and killed a pedestrian in Arizona in March had its automated emergency braking system turned off, federal investigators reported Thursday.The car accurately identified the pedestrian, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, seconds before impact, a preliminary report of the crash from the National Transportation Safety Board found. But with its ability to make an emergency brake turned off, the car was unable to avoid the collision.“According to Uber, emergency braking maneuvers are not enabled while the vehicle is under computer control, to reduce the potential for erratic vehicle behavior,” the report noted. “The vehicle operator is relied on to intervene and take action.”“The system is not designed to alert the operator,” the report adds. In other words, drivers are expected to both watch the road and monitor self-driving cars’ interfaces."The most shocking portion of the report is emergency braking maneuvers were not enabled," Bryan Reimer, the associate director of the New England University Transportation Center at MIT, told CNN. "Is the driver expected to look at the outside world continually? It's impossible when you're providing tasks that interfere with that."Uber didn’t immediately respond to a VICE News request for comment. A spokesperson told the Washington Post in a statement, “We’ve also brought on former NTSB Chair Christopher Hart to advise us on our overall safety culture, and we look forward to sharing more on the changes we’ll make in the coming weeks.”The report didn’t list a cause for the crash, which took place in Tempe. Herzberg was wearing dark clothing, and the reflectors on the bike she was walking across the street lacked any reflectors that would’ve faced Uber’s car, according to the report. Toxicology tests later found that she’d had marijuana and methamphetamine in her system.The crash, which took place in Tempe, is believed to be the first known death of a pedestrian thanks to an autonomous car.Cover image:Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
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