San Francisco police cease self-driving automotive – and discover no person inside, video reveals | Self-driving vehicles

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A video not too long ago posted on-line reveals what occurs when police attempt to apprehend an autonomous automobile – solely to search out no person 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 person in it – that is loopy,” a bystander will be heard saying within the video. The automotive then speeds away to the opposite aspect 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 know-how for ride-hailing functions, transporting riders across the metropolis with no driver. It has been testing its automobiles with a backup driver within the entrance seat since 2015, nevertheless it began permitting customers to hail driverless vehicles in San Francisco in November 2021.

The corporate stated in a tweet that the automobile had behaved as anticipated by transferring to a safer location on the opposite aspect of the intersection the place police have been capable of tackle their considerations.

“Our AV yielded to the police automobile, then pulled over to the closest secure location, as meant. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no quotation was issued,” Cruise stated on its company Twitter account.

A Cruise spokeswoman, Tiffany Testo, advised 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’ve fastened the problem that led to this”. She added that the corporate supplied a cellphone 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 automobiles.

The viral video underscores the bumps within the street as firms race to place totally autonomous automobiles on streets.

The Cruise video comes simply weeks after Waymo, one other autonomous automotive firm, introduced it will deploy driverless automobiles in San Francisco. Waymo has been engaged on autonomous driving know-how for greater than a decade and working 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 stated in March it will 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 automobiles in San Francisco, however is utilizing it for self-driving supply providers quite than passenger rides. It’s already making driverless deliveries in Mountain View, California.

Different driverless automotive companies are engaged on their very own know-how, together with Elon Musk’s digital automotive firm Tesla and Aurora Innovation, an organization based mostly in Pittsburgh.



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