Arizona governor Doug Ducey suspended Uber's self-driving vehicle testing privileges on Monday in the wake of a pedestrian fatality in a Phoenix suburb last week. Mr Ducey said in a letter to CEO Dara Khosrowshahi that video footage showed the company's'unquestionable failure'. The crash raised concerns about the San Francisco-based company's ability to safely test its technology in Arizona, he warned. He said he expects public safety to be the top priority for those who operate self-driving cars. Arizona governor Doug Ducey suspended Uber's self-driving vehicle testing privileges on Monday in the wake of a pedestrian fatality in a Phoenix suburb last week (stock image) 'The incident that took place on March 18 is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation,' Mr Ducey said. The move by the Republican governor marks a major step back from his embrace of self-driving vehicles.

As the investigation into last week's fatal crash where an autonomous Uber SUV struck and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, AZ, the state's governor has suspended Uber's permission to test its cars there. While the company had already halted testing nationwide after the test, this is a turnaround after Gov. Doug Ducey (R) had welcomed self-driving testing from many companies with open arms in a relationship that stretches back a few years. Just a few weeks ago Ducey updated his autonomous vehicle executive order to allow testing without a safety driver. In this crash, there was a test driver behind the wheel, but neither they nor the car reacted in time to avoid a woman who crossed in front of the car. In a letter to Uber, the Wall Street Journal reports Ducey said "my expectation is that public safety is also the top priority for all who operate this technology in the state of Arizona..The incident that took place on March 18 is an unquestionable failure to comply with this expectation."

FILE - In this March 1, 2017 file photo, people enter the headquarters of Uber in San Francisco. Uber suspended all of its self-driving testing Monday, March 19, 2018, after what is believed to be the first fatal pedestrian crash involving the vehicles. The testing has been going on for months in the Phoenix area, Pittsburgh, San Francisco and Toronto as automakers and technology companies compete to be the first with the technology. Uber's testing was halted after police in a Phoenix suburb said one of its self-driving vehicles struck and killed a pedestrian overnight Sunday.