Viral Austin video renews concerns over self‑driving cars in emergencies
A viral video out of Austin is raising questions about how self‑driving cars respond during emergencies.
A man recorded what appears to be a Waymo vehicle blocking first responders during the deadly shooting on West Sixth Street.
A Waymo robotaxi sits in the roadway as an ambulance tries to reach the scene. The car inches forward but does not clear the way.
Then an officer appears to communicate with the company through the car's external speaker system before getting inside and driving it away.
Waymo says vehicle attempted U-turn
When asked about the incident, Waymo told CBS News Texas the vehicle immediately began making a U-turn to clear the way, and a nearby officer assisted.
Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz addressed the incident on Monday.
"We were on scene within 57 seconds, and so in the grand scheme of the impact on the overall incident, we don't believe it had any impact on patient outcomes," he said. "I will say that we're already in touch with Waymo and the autonomous vehicles to give them our concerns and work with them in order to try and address this moving forward."
Critics warn of future risks
"That's great if, in fact, that was the case and they were very lucky, but what's going to happen next time?" Witherite Law Group Managing Attorney John Nohinek said.
Nohinek has been tracking autonomous vehicle cases and is especially concerned about one in Atlanta.
"The Waymo had a passenger, drove past emergency vehicles and into an active crime scene," he said. "They have failed to stop and pass school buses. Failure to yield the right of way both to vehicles, and pedestrians, more importantly, it's very concerning."
Federal safety investigation underway
Nohinek says this prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to open a formal safety investigation into Waymo.
"They don't do that lightly," he said. "That means that there is a higher degree of safety risk that they need to investigate."
Cities urged to slow deployment
While the Austin incident was brief and temporarily blocked an ambulance headed to the shooting scene, it is a new safety concern for critics who are urging cities to put the brakes on autonomous vehicles.
