San Francisco Police Pull Over Driverless GM Cruise
San Francisco police recently pulled over an autonomous vehicle with no one inside.
A video of the incident, first posted to Instagram earlier this month, went viral over the weekend when 9to5Google publisher Seth Weintraub shared the clip on his personal Twitter account.
The video shows a lone officer peering into the front window of a GM Cruise-converted Chevy Bolt and, appearing confused by the lack of human passengers, walks back to their patrol car. When the cop retreats, the self-driving vehicle takes off, making it through a nearby intersection before stopping again on the side of the road.
"Welcome to the future," Weintraub tweeted on Saturday. "Cop pulls over driverless car (because no lights?). Then Cruise goes on the lamb." The GM subsidiary followed up with more details, explaining that its AV acted "as intended." An officer contacted Cruise via a phone number displayed on the car, and no citation was issued.
"We work closely with the SFPD on how to interact with our vehicles," Cruise wrote in a tweet. "Including a dedicated phone number for them to call in situations like this."
Autonomous cabs have been roaming California's streets for years, testing features and giving free lifts to willing travelers. New "Drivered Deployment" permits, however, allow firms like GM and Alphabet's Waymo to actually generate income from their services. Cruise last month got the green light to use "some public roads" in San Francisco between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. at speeds of up to 30mph.
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