A woman behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber that hit a pedestrian has been in legal limbo ever since. The operator faced negligent homicide charges after a 2018 crash killed 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg. A guilty plea entered Friday offered an answer to the once-hypothetical ethics question of who is responsible when a self-driving car kills a pedestrian. Rafaela Vasquez, who was behind the wheel of a self-driving Uber SUV that struck and killed a pedestrian in March of 2018, pleaded guilty to endangerment related to the case, avoiding prison time. The victim, 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg, was the first known pedestrian fatality related to a fully autonomous vehicle crash.

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Persons: Uber, Elaine Herzberg, Rafaela Vasquez, AP Vasquez, Joshua Brown of, carmakers Organizations: Morning, National Transportation, AP, New York Times, Tempe Police, of Transportation Locations: Maricopa County, Tempe , Arizona, Joshua Brown of Canton , Ohio