One Tragic Death Doesn't Make Self-Driving Cars More Dangerous Than Human Drivers

Future Tense is a partnership of Slate, New America, and Arizona State University that examines emerging technologies, public policy, and society. It was bound to happen. With autonomous vehicles on the streets across the country, one of them--through computer error, supervisor carelessness, or a pedestrian's mistake--was going to hit someone. On Monday morning, a self-driving Uber with a supervising driver struck and killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as she tried to cross eight lanes of traffic in Tempe, Arizona. Herzberg's death was the first recorded fatality caused by a self-driving car.