Interfering autonomous cars irritate emergency responders

As police and fire officials responded to a drug lab explosion in San Francisco, they had to contend with a driverless car that meandered into the middle of the scene.

Body-cam footage from February shows an officer yelling at the Waymo vehicle and tossing a flare to keep it from driving over fire hoses.

Several weeks earlier, a firefighter reported having to smash the window of a driverless vehicle to make it stop approaching a fire scene.

In March, firefighters said they had cordoned off a street to deal with wind damage, only to have two Cruise vehicles drive through the warning tape and become entangled in downed wires.

“They’ve made every effort to work with us in public safety measures and be a good partner,” a fire official told Mission Local for a story published last week. “But they do not have a good product.”

First responders said the problem of driverless vehicles accidentally disrupting emergency scenes has gotten worse since companies have expanded their hours of testing. The story said at least 15 fire department incident reports noted interference from Waymo or Cruise vehicles.

“Before, you only used to have these things operating after 2 a.m,” one firefighter said. “There’s not so much traffic; you go around them. It was funny then. Now they’re out in the daytime.”

Cruise told Mission Local it has a “great relationship” with the San Francisco Fire Department and is “constantly improving our technology.” Waymo, in a lengthy statement, said: “Emergencies can happen at any time. Therefore, we’ve taught our technology how to recognize and respond to emergency vehicles no matter if it’s noon or midnight.”