In 2014, when artificial intelligence (AI) first began to enter the commercial market, we knew the critical link was the human interaction with cognitive machines, but even the most salient proof points at that time were only hypothetical. Then March 18th, 2018, happened. On that evening in Tempe, Arizona, a self-driving Uber – one with a back-up human driver on board – struck and killed a female pedestrian. The answer is: very predictably. Since the accident, we have learned that the back-up driver allegedly was more than a little distracted by, among other things, watching a streaming version of "The Voice" for as much as one-third of the trip before the fatal accident.

As the writer William Gibson once said, "The future is already here, it's just not evenly distributed yet." That is especially true when it comes to self-driving cars. While the Uber accident a few weeks ago hit the brakes on its self-driving tests in Arizona, it didn't stop other companies from testing their technologies. In fact, Waymo, Google's self-driving car company, continued its driverless car tests in Arizona. It also applied for a permit to do the same in California and will be starting a driverless taxi service this year in Phoenix.

Uber has reached a settlement with the family of the woman killed by a self-driving Uber car in Arizona. Car equipped with Uber's self driving technology. More people are also starting to think about setting realistic expectations for self-driving cars, the essential question being whether they can be expected to completely avoid fatalities or whether it's good enough that they reduce them. The ethical implications are far-reaching. What makes this question particularly troublesome is that it ties together computing technology with life-and-death consequences.

The race to perfect robot cars continues despite fears kindled by the death of a woman hit by a self-driving Uber vehicle while pushing a bicycle across an Arizona street. Uber put a temporary halt to its self-driving car program in the US after the fatal accident this month near Phoenix, where several other companies including Google-owned Waymo are testing such technology. While the Uber accident may be used to advance arguments of those fearful of driverless cars, it does not change the fact that'transformative technology is coming whether we like it or not,' according to Adie Tomer, a fellow at the Brookings Institution think tank in Washington. Pilot models of the Uber self-driving car, pictured in 2016 before one of the autonomous vehicles killed a woman in Arizona. 'There certainly will be calls to stop all autonomous vehicle testing, not just Uber's program,' Tomer said in a post on the institution's website.

Toyota has suspended its'Chauffeur' self-driving car tests on public roads in the US, following the first ever death involving a fully autonomous vehicle. Citing Sunday evening's tragic incident, in which a Volvo SUV in autonomous mode struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona, the firm says it is pausing the program with its test drivers' emotional well-being in mind, according to Bloomberg. At the time of the crash, a human backup driver was sitting behind the wheel to supervise the self-driving Uber's operations. Toyota has suspended its self-driving car tests following the first death involving an autonomous vehicle. Rafaela Vasquez was behind the wheel of the self-driving Volvo SUV which struck 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg.