The National Transportation Safety Board has released its preliminary report on a fatal crash involving a pedestrian and one of Uber's self-driving cars in Arizona.
And it doesn't paint the company's autonomous vehicle technology in the best light.
According to the report, the sensors on Uber's car spotted the female pedestrian about six seconds before impact. But the vehicle's software got mixed up.
The report says, "The self-driving system software classified the pedestrian as an unknown object, as a vehicle, and then as a bicycle with varying expectations of future travel path."
At 1.3 seconds before impact, the system reportedly realized an emergency braking maneuver was needed to avoid a collision. But Uber said emergency braking maneuvers aren't enabled while the car is under computer control. That's supposed to help lessen the chances of "erratic vehicle behavior."
The NTSB's report was released the day after Uber announced it's shutting down its self-driving car program in Arizona.
