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San Francisco police stop self-driving car – and find nobody inside, video shows | Self-driving cars | The

Guardian 15/05/2022 17:09

Self%driving cars This article is more than 1 month old

San Francisco police stop self0driving


car 4 and find nobody inside, video
shows
Clip prompts amusement online as car stops, then drives across an
intersection, leaving police behind

Kari Paul in San Francisco


Mon 11 Apr 2022 23.32 BST

A Cruise self-driving car outside the company’s headquarters in San Francisco. Photograph:
Heather Somerville/Reuters

A video recently posted online shows what happens when police try to
apprehend an autonomous vehicle – only to find nobody inside.

Police in San Francisco stopped a vehicle operated by Cruise, an autonomous


car company backed by General Motors, in a video posted on 1 April. Officers
approached the car, which had been driving without headlights, only to find
it was empty.

“Ain’t nobody in it – this is crazy,” a bystander can be heard saying in the


video. The car then speeds away to the other side of the intersection, leaving
the police behind.

The video, which has since circulated widely on social media, prompted
inevitable jokes. “Welcome to the future,” quipped one Twitter user.

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/11/self-driving-car-police-pull-over-san-francisco Page 1 of 3
San Francisco police stop self-driving car – and find nobody inside, video shows | Self-driving cars | The Guardian 15/05/2022 17:09

Seth Weintraub
@llsethj

Welcome to the future. Cop pulls over driverless car


(because no lights?) Then Cruise goes on the lamb.
(via instagram.com/tv/Cb1q-vggFn9/)

Watch on Twitter

3:09 AM · Apr 10, 2022

Read the full conversation on Twitter

27.6K Reply Share

Read 899 replies

Cruise is working to deploy its autonomous driving technology for ride-


hailing purposes, transporting riders around the city without a driver. It has
been testing its vehicles with a backup driver in the front seat since 2015, but
it started allowing users to hail driverless cars in San Francisco in November
2021.

The company said in a tweet that the vehicle had behaved as expected by
moving to a safer location on the other side of the intersection where police
were able to address their concerns.

“Our AV yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe
location, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation
was issued,” Cruise said on its corporate Twitter account.

A Cruise spokeswoman, Tiffany Testo, told the Guardian that the vehicle “did
not have its headlights on because of a human error, which was the reason
the SFPD approached it, and we have fixed the issue that led to this”. She Most viewed
added that the company offered a phone number for police to call with Live West Ham United 2
questions any time a vehicle is pulled over. The SFPD did not immediately Manchester City: Premie
League 4 live reaction!
respond to request for comment about the incident or about its policies for
driverless vehicles.
Live Russia0Ukraine wa
The viral video underscores the bumps in the road as companies race to put Finland will apply for Na
membership; missile str
fully autonomous vehicles on streets. destroys Lviv military
facility 4 live
The Cruise video comes just weeks after Waymo, another autonomous car
company, announced it would deploy driverless vehicles in San Francisco. Tottenham 100 Burnley:
Waymo has been working on autonomous driving technology for more than Premier League 4 as it
happened
a decade and running fully driverless rides in Arizona for more than a year.

But driverless car glitches have made headlines in the past, including a Finland formally confirm
Waymo vehicle that became stuck at an intersection and required rescue. intention to join Nato

Waymo said in March it would allow passengers in its driverless cars on a


trial basis. To partake, interested riders must apply for a waitlist and sign Caesar’s favourite herb w
non-disclosure agreements to get early access. the Viagra of ancient Ro
Until climate change kill
it off

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2022/apr/11/self-driving-car-police-pull-over-san-francisco Page 2 of 3
San Francisco police stop self-driving car – and find nobody inside, video shows | Self-driving cars | The Guardian 15/05/2022 17:09

Nuro, another autonomous car company, also has a permit for driverless
vehicles in San Francisco, but is using it for self-driving delivery services
rather than passenger rides. It is already making driverless deliveries in
Mountain View, California.

Other driverless car firms are working on their own technology, including
Elon Musk’s electronic car company Tesla and Aurora Innovation, a company
based in Pittsburgh.

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