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Report: Uber Driver Was Streaming 'The Voice' Before Fatal AV Crash

During their investigation, police sent search warrants to YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu to access the driver's viewing history at the time of the crash, according to Gizmodo. Hulu said she was streaming an episode of The Voice just before the accident.

 & Angela Moscaritolo Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

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The driver of the Uber autonomous vehicle that struck and killed a woman in Arizona this March may have been streaming The Voice on her phone at the time of the accident.

That new detail comes from a 318-page Tempe Police Department report about the crash obtained by Gizmodo through a public records request. "The driver in this case could have reacted and brought the vehicle to a stop 42.61 feet prior to the pedestrian," one of the documents in the report concluded.

During their investigation, police sent search warrants to YouTube, Netflix, and Hulu to retrieve driver Rafaela Vasquez's viewing history at the time of the crash. YouTube and Netflix both said Vasquez was not watching anything on their services at that time. Hulu, however, said she was streaming an episode of The Voice just before the crash occurred.

Meanwhile, police reviewed footage from Uber's cameras and noted that Vasquez was distracted for much of the ride leading up to the accident.

"She appears to be looking down at the area near her right knee at various points in the video," the report reads, according to Gizmodo. "During the 9 video clips, I found that the driver looked down 204 times with nearly all of them having the same eye placement at the lower center console near her right knee. One hundred sixty-six of these instances of looking down occurred while the vehicle was in motion."

In a statement emailed to PCMag, an Uber spokesperson said the company has a "strict policy prohibiting mobile device usage for anyone operating our self-driving vehicles." Uber said it regularly emphasized to vehicle operators that they would be fired if caught using a mobile device behind the wheel of a moving vehicle on public roads.

Uber is currently conducting an internal safety review and has brought in former National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) Chair Christopher Hart to advise the company on its overall safety culture.

"We continue to cooperate fully with ongoing investigations while conducting our own internal safety review" the Uber spokesperson wrote. "We plan to share more on the changes we'll make to our program soon."

Meanwhile, the NTSB last month released a preliminary report indicating that the Uber self-driving car detected the victim six seconds before the fatal collision, but failed to stop because its onboard automatic braking systems were disabled.

About Our Expert

Angela Moscaritolo

Angela Moscaritolo

Managing Editor, Consumer Electronics

My Experience

I'm PCMag's managing editor for consumer electronics, overseeing an experienced team of analysts covering smart home, home entertainment, wearables, fitness and health tech, and various other product categories. I have been with PCMag for more than 10 years, and in that time have written more than 6,000 articles and reviews for the site. I previously served as an analyst focused on smart home and wearable devices, and before that I was a reporter covering consumer tech news. I'm also a yoga instructor, and have been actively teaching group and private classes for nearly a decade. 

Prior to joining PCMag, I was a reporter for SC Magazine, focusing on hackers and computer security. I earned a BS in journalism from West Virginia University, and started my career writing for newspapers in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and West Virginia.

The Technology I Use

My little Florida beach bungalow is brimming with smart home tech. I have a smart speaker or display in every room, allowing me to control other connected devices by voice. The Nest Hub on my bedside table lets me set wake-up alarms, control my smart light bulbs, and set the temperature on my smart thermostat. I use the Amazon Echo Show 8 on my kitchen counter to browse recipes, reorder protein powder, check the weather, and watch the news while I do dishes. 

Because I suffer from allergies, air purifiers are essential. My favorite model is the Dyson Purifier Cool TP07, which doubles as a fan and continuously sends indoor pollution data to its companion mobile app. 

My pitbull Bradley sheds, so a good robot vacuum is a must. I currently use a premium Ecovacs Deebot that can both vacuum and mop, empty its own dustbin, and wash its own mop cloth. 

For fitness, I like to mix up my routine with cycling, indoor rowing, running, and strength training in addition to yoga. I take classes on the Tonal 2 smart strength training machine, I row indoors on an Aviron machine, and track my beach runs with an Apple Watch while listening to music on my Apple AirPods Pro. On the weekends, I love riding e-bikes like the rugged, beach-friendly Aventon Aventure for fun and fitness.

My job involves a lot of virtual meetings, so a quality webcam, microphone, and ring light are important. I use the Jabra PanaCast 20 webcam, the Elgato Wave: 3 microphone, and a Yesker tripod ring light. 

As for my preferred phone platform, I'm an iPhone person, but I've also extensively used Android for product testing.

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