An Arizona woman has become the first pedestrian to be killed by a self-driving car.

The woman was using a crossing near Phoenix when she was struck by an autonomous Uber.

She died later in hospital from her injuries.

Uber has confirmed a vehicle operator was inside the car at the time of the crash.

In a short statement, a company spokeswoman said: "Our hearts go out to the victim's family. We are fully cooperating with local authorities in their investigation of this incident."

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi said in a tweet that the company was working to learn what went wrong.

"Some incredibly sad news out of Arizona," he said. "We're thinking of the victim's family as we work with local law enforcement to understand what happened."

Uber has halted testing of its autonomous vehicles across North America. It suspended its testing in Arizona last year after another crash.

The accident is believed to be the first of it's kind involving a self-driving car. 

In 2016, Tesla employee Joshua Brown was killed while operating an Autopilot car for the company, but was behind the wheel.

- with content from Washington Post