In another sign that the machines are growing smart enough to overthrow their creators, San Francisco police have pulled over a self-driving car – only for that car to drive itself away.
In a viral video, officers can be seen performing a traffic stop on a driverless vehicle owned by General Motors subsidiary Cruise, which was driving at night with no headlights. However, when the police walked back towards their own cruiser, the car zipped forward a short distance before putting its hazards on and pulling over again.
Cruise cars have been ferrying GM’s San Francisco employees around since 2017 using LIDAR sensing technology, and were recently rolled out as autonomous taxis to the general public. Speaking to The Verge, Cruise spokesperson Aaron McLear said the car wasn’t trying to escape police, but rather moving to find a safer spot to park.
“The vehicle yielded to the police car, then pulled over to the nearest safe location for the traffic stop.
“An officer contacted Cruise personnel and no citation was issued. We work closely with the SFPD on how to interact with our vehicles and have a dedicated phone number for them to call in situations like this,” he said.
A likely story – but we’ll remember this when we’re toiling in the lithium mines for our new automotive overlords.
