Police Officers Confused After Pulling Over Empty Driverless Car

Driverless cars, though very new, can sometimes be spotted in major metropolitan areas. A service called Cruise, a self-driving startup company backed by GM, uses autonomous taxis in San Francisco. The city has become a nesting place for autonomous cars and even though many of its locals are familiar with them, some people (including police officers) are still catching on.

Video has surfaced in San Francisco’s Richmond District of a police officer pulling over one of Cruise’s Chevy Bolt EVs, only to discover that the vehicle is completely empty. After the officer stepped away, the Cruise proceeded to drive away only to get pulled over again.

According to 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.”

Cruise utilizes Lidar (Light Detection and Ranging) technology, which is a remote sensing method that uses light in the form of a pulsed laser to measure ranges. Due to this, the Bolt did not realize its headlights were off, hence the police pulling it over.