Prosecutors Don't Plan to Charge Uber in Self-Driving Car's Fatal Accident

Mr. Douma said prosecutors' announcement Tuesday tracked with how typically people, and not car manufacturers, are held responsible for crimes they commit behind the wheel. But, as autonomous vehicles become more sophisticated, he said, such cases raise questions about that way of thinking. "Is this driver, or was this driver, behaving in any way different than what most drivers are going to be behaving like when the car is doing this much driving?" he said. "It's a very conventional way of thinking to say we can expect and we should expect people to sit and monitor technology that is otherwise doing all the decision-making." The Yavapai County Attorney's Office did its review at the request of the Maricopa County Attorney's Office, which had a potential conflict of interest in the case because of an earlier partnership with Uber in a safety campaign.