Uber's Self-Driving Car Killed Someone. Why Isn't Uber Being Charged?

Autonomous vehicle design involves an almost incomprehensible combination of engineering tasks including sensor fusion, path planning, and predictive modeling of human behavior. But despite the best efforts to consider all possible real world outcomes, things can go awry. More than two and a half years ago, in Tempe, Arizona, an Uber "self-driving" car crashed into pedestrian Elaine Herzberg, killing her. In mid-September, the safety driver behind the wheel of that car, Rafaela Vasquez, was charged with negligent homicide. Uber's test vehicle was driving 39 mph when it struck Herzberg. Uber's sensors detected her six seconds before impact but determined that the object sensed was a false positive.