A Cruise autonomous vehicle was pulled over by San Francisco police for driving without headlights on, leading to confusion when the driverless car initially moved away from officers before stopping at a safer location.
In April 2022, a GM Cruise autonomous vehicle operating in San Francisco's Richmond District was pulled over by the San Francisco Police Department for driving without its headlights on during nighttime hours when the vehicles are authorized to operate (10PM to 6AM). When police approached the driverless Chevy Bolt, an officer attempted unsuccessfully to open the door before walking back to his vehicle. The autonomous car then drove away briefly before activating its hazard lights and pulling over at what the company described as a safer location down the road. Police followed and approached the vehicle again, appearing confused about how to proceed with a driverless car. According to Cruise spokesperson Aaron Mclear, the vehicle was programmed to find the nearest safe location for traffic stops, and officers subsequently contacted Cruise personnel through a dedicated phone number. No citation was issued and the company stated they have since fixed the headlight issue. The incident was captured on video and went viral on social media, highlighting the challenges law enforcement faces when interacting with autonomous vehicles.
Domain classification, causal taxonomy, severity scores, and national security assessments were LLM-classified and may contain errors.
AI systems that fail to perform reliably or effectively under varying conditions, exposing them to errors and failures that can have significant consequences, especially in critical applications or areas that require moral reasoning.
AI system
Due to a decision or action made by an AI system
Unintentional
Due to an unexpected outcome from pursuing a goal
Post-deployment
Occurring after the AI model has been trained and deployed
No population impact data reported.