A massive debate over self-driving cars erupted across both sides of the Atlantic after a fatal accident in the US state of Arizona left a 49-year-old dead.

Elaine Herzberg, unfortunately, became the first pedestrian in the world to die in an accident involving a self-driving vehicle when she was hit by a Volvo SUV belonging to cab-aggregator giant Uber on the night of 18 March while crossing a street.

As the debate rages on, the Tempe Police, under whose jurisdiction the incident happened, released a video showing the accident.

The Tempe police said that the Vehicular Crimes Unit of the department is investigating the details of this incident.

“We will provide updated information regarding the investigation once it is available,” they wrote on their official Twitter handle. The Tempe police have said that the victim was walking outside of a crosswalk (pedestrian crossing or zebra crossing).

Before we go any further, have a look at the video captured by cameras installed in the car showing the interior and exterior scenes at the time of the tragedy.

Tempe Police Vehicular Crimes Unit is actively investigating
the details of this incident that occurred on March 18th. We will provide updated information regarding the investigation once it is available. pic.twitter.com/2dVP72TziQ

— Tempe Police (@TempePolice) March 21, 2018

The person inside the vehicle was the operator of the car, identified by police as 44-year-old Rafaela Vasquez. The operator’s role is to intervene when needed but allow the cars to run in autonomous mode.

Self-driving cars rely on radar sensors meant to detect pedestrians, cyclists, cars and other obstacles. This means that the car should have detected Herzberg.

Following the release of the video, people on Twitter raised a series of questions. Many claimed that it would have been difficult for even a human driver to spot the lady “who appeared out of nowhere” on the dark street before the car which was running at a speed of 64 km per hour.

This is such a horrible accident but to be completely honest I didn’t even see her until the headlights were right on her. AZ is already bad enough as far as peds vs vehicles with actual drivers. But a dark street, dark clothes, and not being able to stop in time is dangerous.

— Melissa Edwards ✨ (@Mel_Edwards80) March 21, 2018

I’ve watched it a few times and agree. She seems to appear out of nowhere.

— kiwi87744📎 (@kiwi874) March 21, 2018

Why on Earth was she crossing a busy street in the dark in the middle of the road? Not even at an intersection, but the middle of the road?

— Taurean (@taureanb) March 21, 2018

But surely the pedestrian also has a duty of care to themselves not to cross in front of a vehicle regardless of whether there is a crosswalk or not. The pedestrian clearly wasn’t paying attention to what the vehicle was doing as much as the driver wasn’t paying attention.

— Steejo (@Steejo) March 22, 2018

Even if I was paying attention I don’t know if I could’ve stopped in time based on that video.

— Pete Sarabia (@petesarabia) March 22, 2018

But there were some who said that the street was not as dark as seen in the video and that it would have been possible for humans to spot the woman. Many said that irrespective of whether the woman was walking outside the crosswalk or the lighting on the street, the car’s sensors should have been able to detect Herzberg.

I was responding to the people who were watching the video and saying she came out of nowhere. There is no video camera with dynamic range equivalent to a human, and she would be more visible in real life. Of course the car has LIDAR which should be able to see 300 feet plus.

— Sharky Laguana (@Sharkyl) March 22, 2018

Lidar does not rely on your headlights, these cars are theoretically capable of driving in the dark but don’t for many reasons. That being said, tech failed in this instance.

— Matthew Sisson (@MatthewCSisson) March 22, 2018

Lidar does not rely on your headlights, these cars are theoretically capable of driving in the dark but don’t for many reasons. That being said, tech failed in this instance.

— Matthew Sisson (@MatthewCSisson) March 22, 2018

It will be interesting to find out if the automobile software immediately applied the brakes and if the car decelerated in that split-second (or seconds) between detection and impact. If it decelerated, what was the speed before detection and the speed at the moment of impact.

— David Epstein (@OldTime4n6) March 21, 2018

Meanwhile, Uber has expressed grief at the passing of Herzberg and said that it is “fully cooperating with Police and local authorities as they investigate this incident”.

Uber has been operating autonomous vehicles in Arizona since February of 2017 as part of a series of tests.

This is not the first death involving a self-driving car. In 2016, 40-year-old Joshua Brown of Ohio became the first person to die in an accident involving an autonomous car when his Tesla Model S electric sedan crashed into a tractor-trailer in autopilot mode.