Uber self-driving crash: Police release video footage showing moments before vehicle fatally hit pedestrian

Police in the US have released video footage from the cameras on the Uber self-driving car that fatally struck a pedestrian.

The footage shows the moments before the collision, but not the moment of impact.

It also shows the driver's reaction as the car ploughed into 49-year-old Elaine Herzberg as she was pushing a bicycle across the road.

Ms Herzberg was taken to hospital but later died of her injuries.

The crash is thought to be the first known death involving a fully autonomous test vehicle.

The US National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), as well as the Tempe Police Vehicular Crimes Unit, are investigating the incident.

The footage does not appear to show conclusively who is at fault.

Initial reports quoted the Tempe police as saying Herzberg appeared suddenly.

Sylvia Moir, the Tempe Police Chief, told the San Francisco Chronicle that the Uuber SUV likely would not be found to have caused the crash.

But the Associated Press quoted two experts who viewed the video as saying the SUV's sensors should have spotted Ms Herzberg and that there appeared to be enough time and distance to avoid the collision.