Weekend Argus (Saturday Edition)
Driverless cars and police stops
AS SELF-DRIVING cars become increasingly common on American streets, an obvious question arises: What happens when police want to pullover a robot-driven vehicle without a human backup driver?
In its recently updated Emergency Response Guide, Alphabet’s Waymo – which has about 600 autonomous Chrysler Pacifica minivans on the road in Phoenix – provides a protocol that may offer some glimpse of what’s to come.
“The Waymo vehicle uses its sensors to identify police or emergency vehicles by detecting their appearance, sirens and emergency lights,” the guide states.
“If a Waymo fully self-driving vehicle detects that a police or emergency vehicle is behind it and flashing its lights, it is designed to pull over and stop when it finds a safe place to do so.”
Once it has come to a stop, Waymo’s vehicles can unlock its doors and roll down its windows, allowing someone from the company’s support team to communicate with law enforcement, according to the guide.
If there are passengers in the vehicle, the guide states, Waymo’s “rider support specialists” can communicate with them via speakers, displays and “in-vehicle telecommunications”. If necessary, an employee may even be dispatched to the scene.
Employees may be sent to the scenes of accidents. “The Waymo vehicle is capable of detecting that it was involved in a collision,” the guide states, noting that if a vehicle’s airbag is deployed, its self-driving capability is disabled. The vehicle will then brake until it reaches a full stop and notify Waymo’s fleet response specialists.”
Waymo has been testing its fleet of autonomous minivans in Phoenix for years, but the vehicles have been ferrying people around parts of town without a backup driver for nearly a year.