The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is demanding that automated vehicle developers keep their tech from interfering with police and firefighting activity.
In a letter sent Wednesday to AV developers, agency head Jonathan Morrison called the situation “unacceptable” and a “functional insufficiency.”
He said the agency has documented multiple incidents of automated vehicles driving directly into active emergency and law enforcement scenes, blocking the paths of emergency vehicles and failing to recognize traffic cones and flashing lights.
The letter tells developers to come up with a solution to be presented to the agency by the end of July.
“NHTSA has already been active in this space and will continue to exercise our enforcement authority for developers that do not address significant safety concerns,” Morrison said in the letter.
Last month in Chandler, 12News reported an automated delivery robot from DoorDash entered an active SWAT situation. The robot did not respond to police orders to leave the scene.
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