Uber researched the March 2018 incident in which an Uber self-driving vehicle struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona. Uber found that the vehicle’s onboard sensors did in fact detect the woman in the vehicle’s path, but the vehicle’s software incorrectly decided shew as a “false positive” and that the car did not need to stop for her.
Experts on self-driving car technologies said a tradeoff is required, between smooth rides and jerky stop-and-start to pause for potential objects.