A driverless Waymo automobile’s response to being pulled over by the police in Phoenix has Tesla Inc. CEO Elon Musk in splits.
What Occurred: Musk on Thursday responded to a video shared on X of a driverless automobile being pulled over by the police in Phoenix. The automobile is seen within the video as rolling down the motive force’s aspect window because the police approached when it didn’t actually have a driver.
“Straight out of the “Silicon Valley” present. The comedy writes itself,” Musk wrote in response to the video. The CEO is referring to the tv comedy sequence referred to as Silicon Valley which parodies the tradition of tech startups within the area. The present options Thomas Middleditch within the function of Richard, an introverted laptop programmer.
The video snippet shared on X was first shared by azcentral, the digital model of The Arizona Republic newspaper. The complete-length video exhibits the Phoenix police stopping a Waymo automobile after it drove into opposing lanes of site visitors and conversing with a distant Waymo consultant concerning the incident.
Waymo didn’t instantly reply to Benzinga’s request for touch upon particulars concerning the incident.
Why It Issues: Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo is likely one of the key gamers within the subject of autonomous driving. Tesla can be creating self-driving robotaxis, with their mannequin anticipated to be unveiled on Aug. 8.
Nonetheless, security issues proceed to plague autonomous automobile operators together with Waymo.
In June, Waymo recalled 672 of its self-driving autos after figuring out their incapacity to keep away from a pole or pole-like objects. The corporate recognized the difficulty after one in every of its self-driving automobiles collided with a picket utility pole in an alleyway in Phoenix, Arizona in Might, it stated in a submitting with the U.S. auto security regulator Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration (NHTSA).
Waymo mounted the difficulty with a software program replace to enhance its response to pole-like objects and “strong” mapping updates and enhancements.
In Might, NHTSA commenced a probe into Waymo autos following studies of sudden driving behaviors. These studies included collisions with stationary and semi-stationary objects similar to gates and chains, in addition to collisions with different parked autos. Some cases additionally pertain to the driving system disobeying site visitors guidelines.
The regulator expressed concern that these driving behaviors might enhance the dangers of crash and harm. “Though this workplace is unaware of harm allegations, a number of of the incidents concerned collisions with clearly seen objects {that a} competent driver could be anticipated to keep away from,” the regulator wrote in a letter to Waymo dated Might 23.
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