Cop Attempts To Pull Over a Driverless Car Confusing Everyone, Especially the Car

While the concept of a driverless car is the stuff of science fiction and movies set in the distant future, the development of these automated vehicles also has a long way to go before this technology can be fully trusted on busy streets by passengers, other drivers, and pedestrians.

This is evident by a recurring problem many automated vehicles have been experiencing, which is pulling over for emergency vehicles and traffic stops.

RELATED: Most Americans Believe Self-Driving Cars Are Too Dangerous, According to Study

Watch This Driverless Car Struggle to Obey a Police Officer

A video has gone viral where a Phoenix motorcycle officer made the attempt to pull over a driverless car, much to the amusing bewilderment of the passengers inside. The car in particular was a Waymo Jaguar I-Pace. According to the video, the car can be seen struggling to make sense of the police officer’s commands while the passengers were left helpless when trying to get the vehicle to obey.

@johnnyromano3

POV: youre in a self driving car and the police get involded

♬ original sound – Johnny Romano

TikTok user johnnyromano3 added context to the video by saying that as the Waymo vehicle was driving, it had interrupted a religious parade coming towards them. Neither he nor the other passengers in the car were charged with any wrongdoing and the incident was eventually labeled as a misunderstanding.

Waymo Responds to The Driverless Car Incident

A Waymo spokesperson says that the company investigated the incident and claimed that their vehicles being able to understand road user gestures is an area that they have made significant strides in for the last few years. According to the company, the automated vehicle indeed was able to obey the police officer’s instructions and pull over to the side of the road. It then made a multi-point turn to move out of the blocked lane within 90 seconds of encountering the police officer.

Waymo even has a training video meant specifically for first responders whenever faced with an emergency regarding one of its vehicles.

This isn’t the first time a driverless car has posed a problem for first responders. A viral video shows a San Francisco police officer attempting to pull over an automated taxi by the company Cruise. After the officer stepped away from the vehicle, it proceeded to drive away only to be pulled over again.

According to a statement from Cruise, the car was trying to find a safer location to pull itself over. “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 went on to say, “We work closely with the SFPD on how to interact with our vehicles, including a dedicated phone number for them to call in situations like this.”