PHOENIX (AZFamily)<\/b> \u2014 A driverless Waymo vehicle drove by a police perimeter near Sky Harbor as officers searched a business park for an armed suspect.<\/p>\n
The autonomous vehicle drove past a patrol car and near armed officers during the manhunt. Officers were seen shining a light into the Waymo, which had no driver inside.<\/p>\n
Stan Kephart, a former police chief, said the situation could have been a costly distraction for officers.<\/p>\n
\u201cYou\u2019ve got potentially armed suspect here,\u201d Kephart said. \u201cYou don\u2019t know if the Waymo is occupied. You don\u2019t know anything, but you\u2019re having to dedicate resources, strain resources to make that determination.\u201d<\/p>\n
Kephart said the driverless car placed \u201ca mobile moving vehicle inside the perimeter,\u201d creating \u201canother point of attention that has to occupy this already strained resource.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Waymo spokesperson said the vehicle came across the blocked roadway and rerouted into a nearby parking lot. Because of the blockade, the car circled several times before eventually continuing to its destination.<\/p>\n
\u201cSafety is fundamental to everything we do, and that includes how our vehicles are designed to interact with law enforcement and first responders,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n
Kephart said police departments may need to update their policies and set up better, real-time communication with companies like Waymo.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf you have that kind of close working relationship, you could install things where I can notify you immediately, keep out of this area,\u201d Kephart said.<\/p>\n
Waymo said it has trained over 35,000 first responders across the country. The company said it has a team dedicated to ensuring first responders have information critical to their job performance and makes first responder guides and videos publicly available.<\/p>\n
Phoenix police said they were \u201cnot informed that this caused any disruption related to the search.\u201d<\/p>\n
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