Nathaniel Bullard, Columnist

Driving Keeps Getting Safer. Walking Does Not.

The death of a woman struck by an Uber autonomous vehicle is a reminder of the dangers to pedestrians.

March 21, 2018 at 7:12 PM UTC

Nat Bullard is a senior contributor to BloombergNEF and writes the Sparklines column for Bloomberg Green. He advises early-stage climate technology companies and climate investors.

That doesn't help.
Photographer: Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

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Late Sunday night, an autonomous vehicle being tested by Uber Technologies Inc. struck and killed a woman in Tempe, Arizona, the first known pedestrian fatality involving a self-driving car. Uber has since suspended testing. So has Toyota Motor Corp., which cited the possible “emotional effect” on its test drivers. It is unlikely to be the last such fatality.

Since 1899, more than 3.7 million people have died on the roads in the U.S. By the early 1970s, road fatalities exceeded 54,000 a year. They have since come down significantly, though they have been rising again since 2009.