San Francisco Fire Department uses Waymo as a Role Model for Handling Emergency Vehicles in Instructional Video
A video published yesterday on Twitter by the Californian city’s emergency services shows just how quickly the shift from criticism of autonomous cars to model students is taking place.
A video with “driving tips” from the local fire department demonstrates how to behave towards emergency vehicles. In one segment, a fire engine drives through a junction with its horn and lights switched on and is told to wait for other vehicles, as there are often two or more of them on their way to the scene. In the second part, an ambulance is on the scene. In California, vehicles generally have to pull over and stop to allow emergency services to pass. Only when it is safe to do so is it allowed to drive on again.
In this example, you can see a Waymo driving to the right to clear the way for the ambulance, which the commentary describes as exemplary behavior worthy of emulation, while it describes a vehicle with a human driver immediately following the ambulance as not exemplary.
Especially after the harsh criticism and resistance of recent months, this is a remarkable change. And also one that we had hoped for. Autonomous cars adhere to regulations and are safer than humans.
This article was also published in German.