In order for steering to be a collision avoidance strategy, the system would have to risk the life of the driver. It may be fairly easy to recognise an obstruction on the road, but determining that it's human is much harder. If a plastic bag blowing across the road could kill the driver, or other drivers nearby, that would be a very unpopular solution.

They hit the person with the right side of their car, so even a small move left could have avoided this accident. Given that it was a divided highway with an empty lane to their left, moving half a lane over would have been a reasonable response.

Of course, the Uber vehicle did not take any action at all. It doesn't seem to have ever realized that there was a solid object in front of it. Without that, collision avoidance is impossible.

Veering off the road to avoid a collision is not necessarily the safer option.

well the technology appears to be there, the second one in the sequence is a swerve

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=--xITOqlBCM

also check out the one at 1:06 - pilot detects slightly before than the autopilot but the dashcam is still pitch black