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U.S. road safety agency contacts self-driving car firms on emergency scenes
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration documented multiple cases of autonomous vehicles entering active emergency scenes. The agency plans industry meetings by the end of the month and called the pattern a functional insufficiency.
Jul 9, 3:48 AM·1m read1 source
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The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration has documented multiple instances of autonomous vehicles driving into active emergency scenes and has warned developers to correct the pattern. Jonathan Morrison, who heads the agency, stated in a letter to the industry that the inability to detect and appropriately respond to such situations represents a functional insufficiency.
The letter did not name specific companies or incidents.
Planned meetings and local reports The agency announced it will convene meetings with vehicle developers by the end of the month to seek solutions. It urged developers and operators to prioritize resolving the issue. Local reports from Texas described a late-May incident in Dallas in which a Waymo vehicle reportedly obstructed a fire truck responding to an apartment fire.
Separate videos have shown Waymo vehicles blocking ambulances and navigating active police scenes.
Ongoing investigations Both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the National Transportation Safety Board are examining separate Waymo incidents. These include vehicles illegally passing stopped school buses with activated lights in Texas and a January 23 incident in Santa Monica, California, in which a Waymo vehicle struck a nine-year-old girl in a school zone.
Waymo did not immediately comment on the Dallas incident.
