Highway Accident Report: Collision Between Vehicle Controlled by Developmental Automated Driving System and Pedestrian, Tempe, Arizona, March 18, 2018

On the evening of March 18, 2018, an automated test vehicle struck and fatally injured a 49-year-old pedestrian crossing N. Mill Avenue, outside a crosswalk, in Tempe, Arizona. The Advanced Technologies Group of Uber Technologies, Inc., had installed a proprietary developmental automated driving system in the test vehicle (a modified 2017 Volvo SC90 sport utility vehicle), which was active at the time of the crash. The 44-year-old operator had been operating the vehicle for about 19 minutes before the crash. The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) determines that the probable cause of the crash in Tempe, Arizona, was the failure of the vehicle operator to monitor the driving environment and the operation of the automated driving system because she was visually distracted throughout the trip by her personal cell phone. Contributing to the crash were the Uber Advanced Technologies Group’s (1) inadequate safety risk assessment procedures, (2) ineffective oversight of vehicle operators, and (3) lack of adequate mechanisms for addressing operators’ automation complacency—all a consequence of its inadequate safety culture. Further factors contributing to the crash were (1) the impaired pedestrian’s crossing of N. Mill Avenue outside a crosswalk, and (2) the Arizona Department of Transportation’s insufficient oversight of automated vehicle testing. As a result of its investigation, the NTSB issued recommendations to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the state of Arizona, the American Association of Motor Vehicle Administrators, and the Uber Technologies, Inc., Advanced Technologies Group.

• Record URL:
  https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Reports/HAR1903.pdf
• Summary URL:
  https://www.ntsb.gov/investigations/AccidentReports/Pages/HAR1903.aspx
• Corporate Authors:

  National Transportation Safety Board

  Washington, DC  United States 
• Publication Date: 2019-11-19

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Appendices; Figures; Photos; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 78p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Automated vehicle control; Crash causes; Crash investigation; Fatalities; Human factors in crashes; Oversight; Pedestrian vehicle crashes; Safety culture; Vehicle tests
• Geographic Terms: Tempe (Arizona)
• Subject Areas: Highways; Pedestrians and Bicyclists; Safety and Human Factors; Vehicles and Equipment;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01757784
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: NTSB/HAR-19/03, Accident ID: HWY18MH010
• Files: TRIS
• Created Date: Nov 16 2020 10:54AM