A week after a pedestrian crossing a street died after being hit by one of Uber's self-driving cars, Arizona Governor Doug Ducey has suspended the testing of autonomous vehicles on Arizona roads.
In a letter to Uber's chief executive officer, Governor Ducey said, “Improving public safety has always been the emphasis of Arizona's approach to autonomous vehicle testing, and my expectation is that public safety is also the top priority for all who operate this technology in the state of Arizona.” In the governor's view, “The incident that took place on March 18 is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation.”
Governor Ducey added that he found the video of the accident released by the Tempe police department “to be disturbing and alarming, and it raises many questions about the ability of Uber to continue testing in Arizona.”
The governor previously had welcomed Uber to Arizona in a statement that said, “California may not want you, but we do.” At that time, he also tweeted, “This is what over-regulation looks like.”
Uber suspended self-driving operations in all cities immediately following the death of the pedestrian in Arizona.
Steven A. Meyerowitz
Steven A. Meyerowitz, a Harvard Law School graduate, is the founder and president of Meyerowitz Communications Inc., a law firm marketing communications consulting company. He may be contacted at [email protected].