Featured Image Credit: Phoenix Police Department
Topics: US News, Police, Cars, Technology
Bec Oakes
An Arizona police officer was in for a bit of a shock when he pulled over a car driving on the wrong side of the road only to find out there was no one inside.
Newly released body-cam footage from the Phoenix Police Department shows a police officer chasing down a white Jaguar SUV following a slew of reckless actions.
According to dispatch records, the vehicle had allegedly drove into oncoming traffic near Seventh Avenue and Osborn Road, ran a red light and 'freaked out'.
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But, when it pulled over and the cop went up to the driver's side, he was astounded to discover that there wasn't a driver.
It turns out the car was a driverless Waymo taxi, which is run by Google's parent company Alphabet Inc.
The Arizona state capital is one of the few cities in the US to allow autonomous vehicles.
In the footage, the driver’s window rolls down and the car's audio system connects the officer with a company representative.
"So your car here drove into oncoming lanes of traffic," he informs them.
The rep responds: "OK, I’ll go ahead and take a look at that right now," before the cop continues: "Yeah, there’s like a little bit of a construction area, and it went on opposing lanes of traffic, which is real bad."
A Waymo support staffer later arrives on the scene to assist the officer.
In a statement, the company told AZ Central that the vehicle 'encountered inconsistent construction signage' during the trip, which caused it to move into the wrong lane.
It was then 'blocked' from moving back into the correct lane for about 30 seconds before being pulled over.
"In an effort to clear the intersection, the Waymo vehicle proceeded forward a short distance and pulled into the next available parking lot," Waymo said, describing the event as lasting 'approximately one minute.'
But, the bizarre incident has left Reddit users all asking the same question - if a car doesn't have a driver, does anyone get a ticket?
One person wrote: "Who takes the ticket for dangerous or reckless driving like in this video?"
Another asked: "Who does he write a ticket to?"
And a third joked: "This is going to be a nightmare for the court system in the upcoming years.
Well, according to dispatch records, the incident ended without further need for action as the officer was 'unable to issue citation to computer.'
Talk about a weird day at work...
UNILAD has contacted Waymo for a comment.