A collision between pedestrians puts the trial of Vienna's driverless bus on hold

A bus trial in Vienna, Austria, was paused after an incident between a pedestrian and one of the vehicles, the newspaper reports. Bloomberg. Thursday morning, a 30-year-old woman collided with the bus, which is operated by the Navya self-driving startup, suffering minor injuries. The city's transportation authority has suspended testing of the two stand-alone buses pending the results of the incident investigation.

Right now, we do not know who is responsible for the collision. In a statement given to The edgeNavya claimed that witnesses saw the pedestrian wearing a helmet and looking at a cell phone while she was crossing the street and "walking" against the edge of the bus. Golem reported a similar account of an eyewitness. Navya said the woman had suffered "minor scratches" as a result of the incident.

"Even though this incident has ended without too much damage, we take it seriously. We are already badyzing the incident logs to shed light on what has happened. Because of this, the buses will remain in the garage until they are clarified, "Navya said, adding that his intention was to release a final report later today.

Whoever is responsible, it is an unfortunate misfortune for the French start-up, which has already carried out other tests of autonomous buses in dozens of cities around the world. Navya did not immediately confirm the progress of his other trials or if they had been suspended as a result of the incident. The Vienna test has only been operational since 6 June and includes the presence of a professional driver on each bus as an alternative in the event of a problem.

Although the pedestrian's injuries were considered minor, the incident is likely to be subject to a thorough review by regulators, who are wary of the safety concerns of the new autonomous vehicle industry. Last year, the sector was shaken by a fatal collision in Arizona involving an autonomous Uber car, although the latter resumed testing that year. A state prosecutor has since announced that Uber would not be charged with a crime as a result of the incident that occurred while the reserve driver was monitoring Hulu.