What happens when a driverless car is stopped by the police?
confusion, mostly.
In an Instagram video originally posted on April 1, a driverless cruise car apparently driving at night without its headlights on is pulled over by San Francisco police. As a police officer approaches the driver’s side, he notices…no driver.
As the confused officer walks back to his car, the Cruise pulls away again and crosses an intersection before stopping again outside a restaurant on Clement Street in the Richmond borough. The police car follows, and officers get out and inspect the unoccupied vehicle more closely before making a call — apparently to Cruise.
“Are you serious? How does it work?” one hears a bystander saying.
The video was tweeted by a tech journalist on Saturday Seth Weintraubwhich led to a response from Cruise — the autonomous vehicle company majority-owned by General Motors Co. GM, +1.63% — on Sunday saying the car acted properly.
“Our AV dodged the police vehicle and then proceeded to the nearest safe spot for traffic control as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no subpoena was issued.” The company tweetedadding: “We are working closely with the SFPD to interact with our vehicles, including a dedicated phone number they can call in such situations.”
The odd interaction will likely become more common, at least in San Francisco.
Earlier this year, Cruise received regulatory approval to begin its fully driverless, free Robotaxi service in certain parts of San Francisco. Alphabet’s GOOGL, -1.91% Waymo has also started offering fully driverless rides in San Francisco, but only for Waymo employees for now.