Moir said the car made no attempt to brake, adding “it’s very clear it would have been difficult to avoid this collision in any kind of mode (autonomous or human-driven) based on how she came from the shadows right into the roadway.”

Moir said Herzberg was “perhaps within 100 yards” of a crosswalk, noting “it is dangerous to cross roadways in the evening hour when well-illuminated, managed crosswalks are available.”

While the incident raises safety concerns associated with self-driving cars, Moir said she’s only aware of one other accident, which occurred a year ago. Social media users expressed sadness and regret for the death of 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, who was pushing her bicycle across the street in Tempe City when she was hit by the Uber self-driving vehicle on Sunday, Xinhua news agency reported on Tuesday. Until then, then sometimes-autonomous Volvo XC90 SUVs were a common sight in Tempe, often grouping together in twos or threes at intersections near Arizona State University. Police said the woman, Elaine Herzberg, had not been using a pedestrian crossing. On Monday, Tempe police Sergeant Ronald Elcock told reporters that impairment doesn't appear to be a factor for either Herzberg or Vasquez, and that it was too early to tell who was more at fault. Image copyright Getty Images Image caption A self-driving car at the Google headquarters in 2015

Consumer Watchdog, a lobby group that has warned of the risks of autonomous cars, on Monday called for a moratorium of such vehicles on public roads, describing the accident as a "tragedy we have been fighting years to prevent". “We’re thinking of the victim’s family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened.”

The testing has been going on for months in Toronto, the Phoenix area, Pittsburgh and San Francisco as automakers and technology companies compete to be the first with the technology.
A woman in Tempe, Arizona, dies after being hit by a self-driving car operated by Uber, in what appears to be the first death of a pedestrian struck by an autonomous vehicle on public roads. In response to the fatal accident, Uber suspends self-driving car tests in all U.S. cities as well as Toronto.