A recent video posted online shows what happens when police try to arrest an autonomous vehicle – only to find no one inside.
San Francisco police stopped a vehicle operated by Cruise, a General Motors-backed autonomous car maker, in video released April 1. Officers approached the car, which had been driving without headlights, only to find it was empty.
“There’s nobody in there – that’s crazy,” a viewer can be heard in the video. The car then speeds to the other side of the intersection, leaving the police behind.
The video, which has since circulated widely on social media, sparked inevitable jokes. “Welcome to the future,” joked one Twitter user.
Cruise is working on using its autonomous driving technology for ride-hailing purposes, transporting passengers around the city without a driver. The company has been testing its vehicles with a backup driver in the front seat since 2015, but has allowed users to call driverless cars in San Francisco since November 2021.
The company said in a tweet that the vehicle behaved as expected, moving to a safer spot on the other side of the intersection where police could address their concerns.
“Our AV dodged the police vehicle and then proceeded to the nearest safe location as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no subpoena was issued,” Cruise said called on his company Twitter account.
A Cruise spokeswoman, Tiffany Testo, told the Guardian that the vehicle “did not turn on the headlights due to human error, which is why the SFPD approached it and we have fixed the issue that caused this to happen.” . She added that the company offered a phone number for police to call with questions at any time if a vehicle was stopped. The SFPD did not immediately respond to requests for comment on the incident or on its driverless vehicle policies.
The viral video highlights the bumps in the road as companies struggle to get fully autonomous vehicles on the road.
The Cruise video comes just weeks after Waymo, another autonomous car company, announced it would deploy driverless vehicles in San Francisco. Waymo has been working on autonomous driving technology for more than a decade and has been conducting fully driverless driving in Arizona for more than a year.
But driverless car disruptions have grabbed headlines in the past, including a Waymo vehicle that got stuck at an intersection and had to be rescued.
Waymo said in March it would allow passengers in its driverless cars on a trial basis. To participate, interested riders must apply for a waitlist and sign non-disclosure agreements to gain early access.
Nuro, another autonomous car company, also has a driverless vehicle permit in San Francisco, but uses it for self-driving delivery services rather than passenger driving. It already delivers driverless in Mountain View, California.
Other driverless car manufacturers are working on their own technology, including Elon Musk’s electric car company Tesla and Aurora Innovation, a Pittsburgh-based company.