A video just lately posted on-line exhibits what occurs when police attempt to apprehend an autonomous automobile – solely to search out no one inside.
Police in San Francisco stopped a automobile operated by Cruise, an autonomous automotive firm backed by Basic Motors, in a video posted on 1 April. Officers approached the automotive, which had been driving with out headlights, solely to search out it was empty.
“Ain’t no one in it – that is loopy,” a bystander may be heard saying within the video. The automotive then speeds away to the opposite facet of the intersection, leaving the police behind.
The video, which has since circulated broadly on social media, prompted inevitable jokes. “Welcome to the longer term,” quipped one Twitter consumer.
Cruise is working to deploy its autonomous driving expertise for ride-hailing functions, transporting riders across the metropolis and not using a driver. It has been testing its autos with a backup driver within the entrance seat since 2015, but it surely began permitting customers to hail driverless vehicles in San Francisco in November 2021.
The corporate mentioned in a tweet that the automobile had behaved as anticipated by transferring to a safer location on the opposite facet of the intersection the place police have been in a position to deal with their issues.
“Our AV yielded to the police automobile, then pulled over to the closest protected location, as meant. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no quotation was issued,” Cruise mentioned on its company Twitter account.
A Cruise spokeswoman, Tiffany Testo, informed the Guardian that the automobile “didn’t have its headlights on due to a human error, which was the rationale the SFPD approached it, and we now have mounted the difficulty that led to this”. She added that the corporate supplied a telephone quantity for police to name with questions any time a automobile is pulled over. The SFPD didn’t instantly reply to request for remark in regards to the incident or about its insurance policies for driverless autos.
The viral video underscores the bumps within the street as firms race to place totally autonomous autos on streets.
The Cruise video comes simply weeks after Waymo, one other autonomous automotive firm, introduced it might deploy driverless autos in San Francisco. Waymo has been engaged on autonomous driving expertise for greater than a decade and operating totally driverless rides in Arizona for greater than a yr.
However driverless automotive glitches have made headlines prior to now, together with a Waymo automobile that turned caught at an intersection and required rescue.
Waymo mentioned in March it might permit passengers in its driverless vehicles on a trial foundation. To partake, riders should apply for a waitlist and signal non-disclosure agreements to get early entry.
Nuro, one other autonomous automotive firm, additionally has a allow for driverless autos in San Francisco, however is utilizing it for self-driving supply providers relatively than passenger rides. It’s already making driverless deliveries in Mountain View, California.
Different driverless automotive companies are engaged on their very own expertise, together with Elon Musk’s digital automotive firm Tesla and Aurora Innovation, an organization primarily based in Pittsburgh.
