A recent video posted online shows a driverless patrol car being stopped in San Francisco by police, who discovered that the autonomous vehicle had no one behind the wheel.
In the video posted on April 1, the patrol car initially stops on the shoulder of the road and stops as a police officer approaches the driver's side before accelerating through an intersection and moving further down the road.
Cruise said Sunday that the car performed as expected.
“Our AV yielded to the police vehicle and stopped at the nearest safe location, as planned. An officer contacted Cruise's team and no citation was issued,” Cruise said on his company's Twitter account.
Cruise told CNBC that the San Francisco Police Department always has a dedicated phone number that officers can call when the company's driverless vehicles are stopped. SFPD representatives did not immediately return requests for additional information.
The humorous episode highlights some of the situations that could arise as driverless cars become more common on city streets.
Cruise, a subsidiary of GM, began offering nighttime rides to the public earlier this year in San Francisco in driverless cars, although it is not yet in effect and riders must request a waiting list.
Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, plans to offer free driverless rides in its cars in San Francisco to members of a test program and has completed “tens of thousands” of driverless rides in Arizona.
Nuro has a work permit to also operate driverless cars in San Francisco, but the startup focuses on deliveries, not taxi services.
