Uber Driver Streamed 'The Voice' Prior to Fatal Crash
A report from Tempe, Ariz., police concludes that if the driver had not been watching "The Voice" on her phone, the crash would not have occurred.
Tempe police say the fatal crash would have been prevented if the driver was not distracted.
Photo via NTSB/Wikimedia.
A police report detailing the now-infamous fatal March crash involving a self-driving Uber test vehicle found that the car's human operator, Rafaela Vasquez, was streaming the television show "The Voice" prior to the accident.
The report says that Vasquez streamed the show about 43 minutes before the crash that killed Elaine Hezberg. The report also says that the crash would not have occurred if Vasquez had not been distracted.
Dash-camera video recorded before the crash shows Vasquez watching the show for four or five seconds, looking up momentarily before the car hit Herzberg. Vasquez looked away from the road almost a third of her time behind the wheel, according to the report.
Tempe police seek to charge Vasquez with vehicular manslaughter.
Following the crash, Uber suspended its autonomous vehicle test program in Arizona, San Francisco, Toronto, and Pittsburgh, while Arizona Gov. Doug Ducey prohibited the ridesharing company from conducting further tests in the state.
Related: Uber to End Self-Driving Vehicle Testing in Arizona
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