elaine herzberg was to the uber self—driving software an ‘unknown object'. slow down and elaine herzberg became the first person on record to be killed by an autonomous car. the vehicle, a modified volvo, had its emergency braking system disabled. uber said this was to avoid erratic driving behaviour. it is not clear if the system would have saved her if the system had been switched on. the national transportation safety board's report is not the final say on the matter. its full, conclusive ruling is several months away at least. but what is known so far is that the incident raises serious questions about the safety of uber‘s self—driving programme. the company had its permit to test the self—driving vehicles in arizona revoked, but said it hoped to test in other places, including the city of pittsburgh. however, that came as news to the city's mayor. uber said it had launched its own safety review into the incident and had brought in outside advisers to help the company move forward. uber once referred to self—driving cars as critical to the future of the

elaine herzberg was killed back in march when she was hit by one of the robotic vehicles in arizona. we now have learned the vehicle spotted herzberg six seconds before impact. the ntsb says the automatic emergency braking was disabled because uber says it reduces the potential for erratic behavior. they rely on a human driver for backup. however, the system is not designed to alert the backup driver about potential threats. the news comes one day after uber announced it was shutting down self-driving car tests in arizona. >>> right now eruptions on hawaii's big island are now entering a fourth week and one of the world's most active volcanos shows no sign of stopping. on your left a live look at the fountain of that red-hot lava just spewing there. and then on your right, aerial video of how close it is to a nearby geothermal power plant. officials say it is essentially safe because it's protecting the facility but if breached it may release toxic gas. >>> a court battle involving oil companies and climate change will get under way in the bay area this morning. anne makovec reports.