SAN FRANCISCO, CA – If a driverless vehicle winds up committing a traffic violation, how exactly are police supposed to address the matter? That topic is likely going to get some needed attention after police in San Francisco pulled over a self-driving vehicle earlier in April that had no driver or occupants.

The vehicle in question is a car crafted by the autonomous vehicle company Cruise, which according to their website, they’re “creating an all-electric, self-driving ride service to get you to the people, places, and experiences you care about — starting in San Francisco.”

Cruise encourages the riders in the self-driving cars to “Crank up the volume. Have a snooze. Or just enjoy the view,” while assuring their self-driving vehicles are “safe, and reliable, so you can just relax and be yourself.”

While the concept of a real-life Johnny Cab like from the movie Total Recall is a bit curious to see come to fruition, therein still lies the issue of what occurs when these autonomous vehicles wind up breaking any traffic laws.

Video captured the moment when San Francisco Police pulled over one of these vehicles, only to find no one inside of the car. When the officer, who was told by an onlooker as well that no one was inside the vehicle, was walking back to his vehicle – the Cruise car took off across the intersection and pulled over again for the officer.

Additional officers wound up arriving on the scene, ostensibly trying to ascertain what exactly to do about the conundrum. Cruise had apparently shared a statement on Twitter addressing the matter, claiming that SFPD reached out to them about the vehicle and that ultimately no ticket was issued.

“Chiming in with more details: 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. 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.”

 

But if these autonomous vehicles are susceptible to committing run-of-the-mill traffic violations, then could these A.I.-powered cars potentially cause something more serious along the lines of a serious traffic accident or even pedestrian fatality? And if so, who – if anyone – would be held criminally responsible?

Those are some of the questions that have been cropping up in the comments section of where the video was posted on Twitter, as well as some questioning why driverless cars are even a needed thing.

Well, according to Techopedia, at least the notion of accidents that would potentially be caused by driverless vehicles would be less frequent than by human-operated vehicles, claiming they’re, “orders of magnitude safer in preventing many types of accidents,” adding that such “accidents will practically never happen with autonomous cars.”

However, the notion of “practically never happen” suggests that something will inevitably happen – as even the most optimal of technology is not infallible.

 

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