Earlier this year, Cruise received permission to deploy its fleet of driverless robotaxis in San Francisco, CA, and it has resulted in a frankly comical run-in between one confused police officer and the Chevrolet after the San Francisco Police Department pulled over one of General Motors’ Cruise vehicles for not having its lights on while driving at night.
The police officer succeeded in pulling over the vehicle, but that’s where things got goofy. After realizing no one is inside and trying to open the door to the Cruise vehicle, the officer heads back to his patrol car. Then, the robotaxi starts to pull away, only to come to a rest with its hazards on a little further down the street.
You can watch the video here:
Once the Cruise is stopped again, the SFPD goes back to trying to figure out how to turn the lights on.
So, what exactly happened here? According to Cruise, things went exactly to plan: The driverless vehicle stopped, then tried to find a better place to stop a little further up the road, where it would be safer for a traffic stop to take place.
A Cruise spokesperson also told The Verge that the officer in the video contacted Cruise to understand what was happening and that the headlight issue has since been fixed. No citation was issued.
Right now, there’s no explanation for why the Cruise was operating without headlights in the first place — which is especially concerning, considering the fact that the company’s vehicles are only allowed to operate at night between 10 p.m. and 6 a.m. in San Francisco.
Previously, Cruise was only giving rides to its employees. Now, the public can sign up for free taxi rides as Cruise begins opening up rides to other people — but there are still some heavy restrictions. In addition to the timing restrictions, Cruise vehicles are only allowed to operate at a maximum speed of 30 mph and can’t drive in extremely low-visibility conditions, like heavy rain.