A US police officer’s body cam has captured the moment a car was pulled over for driving on the wrong side of the road – but there was no one inside.
Video shared to Facebook by user Thisisbutter shows a Phoenix police officer performing a traffic stop after observing a Waymo robotaxi – based on a Jaguar I-Pace – driving the wrong way down a street.
According to police dispatch records uploaded online, the autonomous SUV “freaked out” and ran a red light after the officer deployed his car’s lights and sirens.
After the robotaxi came to a stop, the officer walked up to its window to discover no one was inside.
However, the autonomous vehicle is equipped with a communication system which allows Waymo staff to remotely talk to law enforcement officers in these kinds of situations.
The police officer didn’t issue any infringements to Waymo after the incident, reportedly saying he was “unable to issue citation to [a] computer”.
A Waymo spokesperson also provided a statement to The Arizona Republic, claiming the robotaxi had “encountered inconsistent construction signage” and was subsequently “blocked from navigating back into the correct lane”.
“In an effort to clear the intersection, the Waymo vehicle proceeded forward a short distance and pulled into the next available parking lot.”
In May, a National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) safety probe uncovered over 30 incidents involving Waymo’s robotaxis.
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