The topic is interesting, we are talking about autonomous cars that make mistakes and that already “react on their own”. In this case, the robotaxi was lucky, it was not fined!
Waymo car seen 'running away' from police after being pulled over
Yes, the car was empty, without a driver, without customers and just going the wrong wayon a busy road in Phoenix, USA.
Arizona police officers were caught off guard in a bizarre situation when they tried to pull over a car that was driving in the wrong direction. They spotted a car going the wrong way in traffic, chased the vehicle to pull it over and ticket the driver, but discovered that there was no one behind the wheel, as it was a self-driving Waymo taxi.
Waymo's electric Jaguar was seen driving erratically in traffic on June 19, with officers reporting that they saw it swerving and driving the wrong way in traffic. They attempted to pull the car over to see what the problem was.
However, when they picked up the car, they discovered that it was an autonomous vehicle, reports Fox 10 News:
It’s not every day that you see a Phoenix police officer pull over a driverless car. But that’s what happened on June 19, after the officer observed a Waymo losing control in traffic.
I couldn't help but come here out of morbid curiosity. I thought maybe there was a passenger.
A passerby said to the officer.
The agent responds:
You know what's going on here? He was going east in the westbound lanes, which is really bad. So I flashed him my lights, and he pulled out of the intersection.
Waymo said in a statement shared with AZ Central that the issues facing the robotaxi stemmed from "inconsistent construction signage."
The driverless car "was prevented from navigating back into the correct lane" for approximately 30 seconds. It was at this point that the officer pulled up behind the car.
In an effort to clear the intersection, the Waymo vehicle moved forward a short distance and stopped in the next parking lot available.
Waymo said it described the traffic incident as lasting "approximately one minute."
The fact that a human driver would not have instinctively steered into oncoming traffic, inconsistent signage or not, is not really addressed by Waymo's statement.
Waymo added that the entire situation was resolved within minutes and that the police officers present at the incident decided to let Waymo drive freely without issuing a ticket, even though ticketing robotaxis is something that police officers have every right to do in Arizona.
Unlike California, where driverless cars are currently immune from traffic citations, law enforcement in Arizona and Texas can issue hefty fines to self-driving car owners. Police told Fox 10 News that self-driving taxis are rarely ticketed, although there have been reports of cars stalling in traffic and driving erratically.
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Source: pplware.sapo.pt
