San Francisco police pulled over a car for driving without headlights at night and were left in a stupor as they found no one inside.
Like a scene out of a science fiction movie, San Francisco police officers pulled over a driverless car operated by General Motor Co’s Cruise unit and found that there was no one behind the wheel. The resulting video footage has gone viral online
“Ain’t nobody in it. This is crazy,” said one of the officers, who tried to open the vehicle door before walking back to his cruiser. The car eventually drove through the intersection and stopped again in the next block as people watching the scene unfold laughed.
Cruise Chief Executive Kyle Vogt said the video was a perfect example of what is one of the biggest challenges for autonomous vehicles – how to interact with humans.
Cruise also blamed human error for the lack of headlights and said that they work closely with the police on how to interact with the vehicles and they have a dedicated phone number for police to call.
The San Francisco police department said the officers were able to contact the vehicle’s remote operator and a maintenance team took control. Once the officer cleared the vehicle, the car relocated to the nearest safe location.
Cruise is allowing a small number of vehicles to give full driverless rides to the public free of charge at night in San Francisco. The company is trying to obtain the last regulatory approval required to launch a commercial driverless service.
Social media found the video hilarious with one person named Albino Guidedog saying, “IT WAS DRIVING WITHOUT ITS HEADLIGHTS!!! Cops weren’t confused, they were probably questioning why cutting-edge technology somehow can’t turn its own lights on.”
Confused cops pulled over a driverless car. It drove off. #FutureBlink pic.twitter.com/rXNrLldbXo
— Mashable (@mashable) November 7, 2022
