Who is Rafaela Vasquez? Backup operator of Uber's self-driving car pleads guilty to endangerment for fatally hitting Tempe pedestrian
TEMPE, ARIZONA: The backup Uber driver of a self-driving car that struck and killed a pedestrian in suburban Phoenix in 2018 entered a guilty plea to endangerment on Friday, July 28. The incident was supposedly the first fatal mishap with a fully automated vehicle.
Rafaela Vasquez, 49, was given three years of supervised probation for the collision that killed Elaine Herzberg, 49 after Maricopa County Superior Court Judge David Garbarino accepted the plea deal. During the March 18, 2018, incident on a dark Tempe, Arizona roadway, Vasquez told police that Herzberg "came out of nowhere" and that she hadn't seen the victim before. Consequently, Vasquez was accused and charged with negligent murder. As she admitted to an undesignated felony, her charges will be downgraded to a misdemeanor if she successfully completes probation.
Rafaela Vasquez was operating Uber's self-driving test vehicle
During the incident, Vasquez was operating as a backup safety driver in a Uber Technologies self-driving test vehicle and was tasked with taking over in case of an emergency. However, according to investigators, the accused was instead watching 'The Voice' on her phone and was looking down just before Herzberg, who was crossing the street on her bicycle, was hit by Uber's Volvo XC-90 SUV. On the other hand, Vasquez's legal team claims that she was using a work-related smartphone resting on her right knee to access a chat app used by Uber personnel. They alleged that her own smartphone, which was on the passenger seat, was playing the TV show, as reported by the Daily Mail.
Rafaela Vasquez's inability to keep an eye on the road was the primary factor in the crash
During his request for the judge to sentence Vasquez to six months of unsupervised probation, Vasquez's defense attorney, Albert Jaynes Morrison, told Garbarino that Uber should also bear some responsibility for the crash. Uber "failed to take some steps," he claimed, stating that Vasquez was put in the car without a second worker. "It was not a question of if but when it was going to happen," added Morrison. However, Vasquez's inability to keep an eye on the road was the primary factor in the collision, as per the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).
Prosecutor Tiffany Brady informed the judge that the defendant had one job and it was to maintain her focus on the road. Following the hearing, Maricopa County Attorney Rachel Mitchell stated that her office thought the sentence was appropriate "based on the mitigating and aggravating factors." On the other hand, the Arizona Department of Transportation's weak regulation of autonomous vehicle testing, Herzberg's decision to cross the street without using a crosswalk, and Uber's lax safety policies as well as inefficient control of its drivers were among the other contributing factors mentioned by the NTSB.