Uber Fatal Crash Recreated, Victim's Daughter Hires Lawyer

TEMPE, AZ – Investigators went to Mill Avenue on Thursday night to recreate the crash in which an Uber struck and killed a woman crossing the street. Elaine Herzberg of Mesa was killed Sunday night as she walked her bicycle across the street.

Members of the four-person team from the National Transportation Safety Board along with officials from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and Tempe police were all on scene. They used the actual SUV and bicycle from the crash.

Investigators ran five tests in an effort to determine what went wrong.

The Uber SUV was in self-driving – or "autonomous" – mode when the crash occurred.

It is believed to be the first fatal pedestrian crash involving a self-driving vehicle in the United States. Arizona has become a center for companies – including Uber, Waymo, Intel, and GM – looking to test self-driving vehicles. Rules governing the safety of the vehicles are still being developed.

The federal government has so far left regulation to the states. Arizona, along with Nevada, Michigan, and others, have yet to impose strict regulations as they compete for investments from the company.

In the tests Thursday night, the car was not in autonomous mode and had a human driver behind the wheel. In the fatal incident on Sunday, there was a mandatory "driver" as well but, despite rules stating the "driver" should keep hands on the wheel, the driver can be seen on video released by Tempe police looking down until it was too late.

Meanwhile, a law firm in Glendale, Arizona, says they have been hired by Herzberg's daughter.

"As an Arizona law firm, we feel a special responsibility to represent this case as it directly impacts our fellow Arizonans sharing the road with these machines," firm partner Cristina Perez Hesano, says.

Hesano says that while Arizona has hoped to be a testing ground for self-driving cars – in addition to Uber, companies such as Waymo and Intel have set up shop in the state – the move has opened up previously unexplored area of liability law.

At the same time, she says, "this case is fundamentally about a woman who lost her mother and wants to understand why."

Photo from Uber via the Tempe Police Department.