SAN FRANCISCO — A recent San Francisco traffic stop attracted quite the crowd – and an even larger social media buzz – after officers realized there was no one at the wheel.
The vehicle in question was a Cruise car, a product of Cruise LLC, a GM subsidiary founded in 2013 to develop autonomous car technology.
In the video, posted to Instagram on April 1, the Cruise car initially pulled over to the side of the road and stopped. An officer approached the driver’s side before realizing the 21st-century conundrum he had encountered.
Then, with a bystander’s camera still rolling, the vehicle accelerated briefly through an intersection and pulled off further down the road, KGO-TV reported.
“Are you serious? How does that happen?” another bystander exclaimed in the video.
According to San Francisco-based Cruise’s official Twitter account, the vehicle behaved exactly the way it was designed.
“Chiming in with more details: our AV yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued,” the company wrote April 10 on Twitter.
Chiming in with more details: our AV yielded to the police vehicle, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop, as intended. An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued.
— cruise (@Cruise) April 10, 2022
Cruise officials also confirmed to CNBC that the San Francisco Police Department has a dedicated phone number available at all times for officers to call when the company’s driverless vehicles get pulled over.
Watch the video below:
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