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ARTICLE · 28 MARCH 2018

Tempe Incident Prompts An Autonomous Vehicles Regulatory Review

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On March 19, 2018, Uber Technologies Inc. ("Uber") halted public road testing of autonomous vehicles — a day after reports that one of its operated autonomous vehicles struck ...

CanadaTransport
Martin Abadi
Martin Abadi
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On March 19, 2018, Uber Technologies Inc. ("Uber") halted public road testing of autonomous vehicles — a day after reports that one of its operated autonomous vehicles struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona (the "Tempe Incident").2 The collision occurred despite having a human "back-up" driver behind the wheel. Whether Uber or the driver will bear any responsibility for the Tempe Incident is yet to be determined. Nonetheless, Ontario's Ministry of Transport spokesman, Bob Nichols, has stated that "[Ontario] will be following the situation in Arizona closely, and will consider what measures are appropriate as more becomes known."3

With a small sample of self-driving vehicles currently being tested on public streets in Ontario and around the world, the Tempe Incident discloses the need to re-examine the regulatory framework for autonomous vehicles as the technology outpaces the promulgation of laws to regulate it.

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