Uber Disabled Emergency Braking In Self-Driving Car: U.S. Agency

Uber had disabled an emergency braking system in a self-driving vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Arizona in March after failing to identify the pedestrian, the National Transportation Safety Board said in a preliminary report released on Thursday. The report said the modified 2017 Volvo XC90’s radar systems observed the pedestrian six seconds before impact but “the self-driving system software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, as a vehicle, and then as a bicycle.” At 1.3 seconds before impact, the self-driving system determined emergency braking was needed.