Anybody who has ever requested a stranger in a espresso store to observe their laptop computer is aware of unattended tech makes an engaging goal for thieves. Waymo acquired yet one more reminder of this reality this week after a person in downtown LA tried to take over certainly one of its driverless automobiles.
The incident occurred within the early morning hours of January 2. Police arrived on scene to discover a man sitting within the driver’s seat of on of Waymo’s Jaguar I-Tempo SUVs, CBS Los Angeles reviews:
A person, who authorities say was probably below the affect, was within the driver’s seat of certainly one of Waymo’s totally electrical Jaguar I-PACEs when officers arrived to the scene close to South Hill Avenue and Fifth Avenue round 12:30 a.m., in keeping with the Los Angeles Police Division. Footage reveals officers pulling him out of the motive force’s seat, the place nobody is normally sitting within the self-driving automobiles.
The unidentified man was arrested and brought into custody after authorities pulled him out of the automobile. Waymo just lately launched its driverless automotive service in Los Angeles in November 2024. Within the two months the service has been on-line, the corporate informed CBS that there have “solely been a handful of situations” out of 5 million or so rides the place somebody tried to steal certainly one of its autos. As this current thief doubtless realized, even for those who do handle to make it into the entrance seat of a Waymo, you’re not going to get very far. In an announcement to CBS, the corporate defined the way it’s inconceivable for unauthorized drivers to do something with one of many autos.
Waymo autos are designed in order that unauthorized people can not disengage the automated driving system and manually function the autos,” Waymo stated within the assertion. “When any unauthorized particular person sits within the driver’s seat, Waymo’s Rider Assist workforce can ask them to go away the automobile and finish the trip. In the event that they don’t adjust to instructions to go away the automobile, Rider Assist coordinates with our Emergency Response Workforce, which works with regulation enforcement to reply.
The corporate stated the system that operates its autos known as the “Waymo driver” and consists of its AI self-driving tech, the number of sensors and cameras on the automobile and its software program. Waymo says this tech can also be able to figuring out when a rider could also be drunk or if “an individual inside is smoking or not sporting their seatbelt.”
The LAPD says in March 2024, a person tried to steal one other Waymo driverless automotive in downtown Los Angeles. Police say the person tried to place the automotive into drive however couldn’t work out the best way to work the controls. A Waymo rep used the in-car communication system to attempt to get the person to go away. When he didn’t, that’s when police had been contacted and he was arrested.
Whereas Waymo’s fundamental competitor, GM backed Cruise was just lately shut down, it doesn’t appear as if Cruise had many issues with theft. Except for embarrassing glitches, it appears that evidently human drivers would usually hit the driverless automobiles after which flee the scene when nobody was noticed behind the wheel.
