Phoenix Police Department
An Arizona police officer was surprised when he pulled over a sleek white Jaguar SUV… only to find no one in the driver’s seat.
Watch the video… An Arizona police officer who was chasing a white Jaguar SUV after he hit oncoming traffic and ran a red light walked up to the vehicle and was ready for anything, only to find that he had snatched a self-driving Waymo taxi.
ICYDK, Waymo — which is operated by Google parent Alphabet Inc. — is designed to pull over when it detects emergency lights and sirens, but it looks like the car was seriously “freaked out” — well, that’s according to dispatch Record.
The shocked police officer can be heard calling a company representative in the video, saying: “Yeah, there’s a bit of a construction zone and it goes into the opposite lane and it’s really bad.”
A Waymo support worker eventually showed up and assisted police.
Waymo later explained that the vehicle “encountered inconsistent construction signs” and ended up in the oncoming lane after “unable to return to the correct lane” for about 30 seconds. Just then, the police pulled up behind.
Phoenix officials noted that the incident was closed without further action … because the officer “was unable to issue a citation to the computer,” according to dispatch records.
Fortunately, no other vehicles were affected and no one was injured. To the police, it’s just a high-tech hiccup and a good story!
