We have entered an era where the roads will be shared by pedestrians, fully driver-operated vehicles, semi-autonomous vehicles and fully autonomous vehicles. As a result there will be a multitude of new issues regarding liability facing our legal system. The reality of these changes is apparent in cities that are hosting autonomous vehicle testing on their roads, such as Pittsburgh, which has become a hot bed for autonomous vehicle development and testing.  Pittsburgh is one of Uber’s main test locations, but it was in another location, Tempe, Arizona, where hypothesis became reality. The facts of a tragic, fatal accident read like a law exam.

On March 18, a woman attempted to walk her bicycle across a street, mid-block at night. At the same time an autonomous Uber vehicle going down the street at approximately 38 miles-per-hour, struck and killed the pedestrian. This was the first nondriver death in the autonomous age and it was captured on dash cam. We will never know how it would have played out in the courts from a liability perspective as Uber quickly entered into a settlement.