Cops Pull Over Driverless Car, Find Nobody Inside

As driverless vehicles begin to take over our deliveries, freight lines, and each different behind-the-wheel human function, it was solely a matter of time earlier than they began having awkward run-ins with cops, too.

We received a glimpse of what which may appear like in a brand new clip taken earlier this month, displaying a crew of San Fransisco cops tried pulling over a taxi for driving round at night time with its headlights out—solely to search out there was no one inside. Then automobile took half within the time-honored American custom of the police chase.

The clip—which was taken by a bystander watching the scene unfold—exhibits a cop standing over a driverless taxi owned by Cruise, a subsidiary of General Motors which was authorized to test-launch its driverless taxis down the streets of San Fransisco late last year. Stipulations in Cruise’s “driverless deployment permit” imply that the corporate can solely function the vehicles in a driverless capability between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m., which is why the automobile was seen skulking round at night time. But why the automobile selected to see the sights with out its lights on is unclear.

The clip begins with one of many cops approaching the robo-taxi, as somebody off-camera shouts that there “ain’t nobody in it.” The cop does a fast test to verify, and begin strolling again to their very own police car. Then the taxi makes a literal run for it, dashing off to the opposite aspect of the junction earlier than coming to a cease on the curb.

“Are you serious? How does that happen?” one other bystander might be heard shouting because the cops race up behind the taxi (once more). The second time round, each cops got here out, encircled the taxi in query and seemingly took down its figuring out data whereas ready for a 3rd officer to reach on the scene.

It’s a video that raises questions on driverless vehicles that had been as soon as solely the provenance of an Isaac Asimov story. Why did the automobile all of a sudden attempt dashing off? Did it know that cops had been making an attempt to drag it over? Did it really feel responsible? Can vehicles register guilt? Was the automobile simply digital camera shy, and making an attempt to flee from the gawking pedestrians?

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Cruise, for its half, tweeted out a response to the footage over the weekend, saying that its automobile “yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended.” The firm didn’t tackle why the automobile sped away from the police. 

“An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued,” Cruise went on. “We work closely with the SFPD on how to interact with our vehicles, including a dedicated phone number for them to call in situations like this.”

While this definitely isn’t the primary time {that a} self-driving car has been pulled over for irregular habits, this does appear to be the primary time that one’s been pulled over with none driver or passenger inside. And when one thing like that occurs, the one factor we, as passersby, can actually do is hope that the corporate remembers to maintain its lights on subsequent time.