San Francisco police say a viral video that sparked condemnation of the city’s self-driving taxis may have been taken out of context and unfairly ignited a firestorm of controversy around the self-driving vehicles.
The video shows a first responder yelling at a driverless car from the tech startup Cruise to move out of the way because it is blocking emergency vehicles from reaching the scene of a mass shooting. The taxi in the video — with no people inside — defiantly stays put.
The witness who recorded the video said the robotaxi was being reckless, an idea that local media outlets and politicians picked up and ran with as another example of Big Tech’s going too far.
But it turns out the initial perception created by the video may have been wrong, according to the San Francisco police and fire departments. They now say the robotaxi didn’t block emergency responders or otherwise get in anyone’s way after the shooting, which wounded nine people.
“The autonomous vehicle did not delay police, fire, or other emergency personnel with our arrival or departure from this scene. Furthermore, it did not interfere with our investigation into the shooting incident,” the police department said in an email. The viral video was only 13 seconds, and it didn’t show a wide sweep of the area
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