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.
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.
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 .
