A driverless Waymo robotaxi obstructed emergency vehicles attempting to reach the site of the mass shooting in downtown Austin that left two people dead and 14 others injured early Sunday morning.
The KXAN reports that an autonomous Waymo vehicle caused a delay for emergency responders racing to the scene of a deadly mass shooting at a popular Austin bar in the early morning hours of Sunday. The incident has renewed concerns about the deployment of self-driving vehicles in urban environments, particularly during emergency situations.
Matthew Turnage, who had ordered an Uber ride after leaving a nightclub in the area around 2:00 a.m., captured video footage of the autonomous vehicle blocking West 6th Street and Nueces Street. The location was approximately two minutes away from Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden, where a gunman had opened fire, killing two people and wounding 14 others.
“We left a club at 2:00 a.m. and were walking to get a ride home. We just so happened to get a Waymo car from Uber, and when we found the car, it was trying to pick us up but got stuck in the middle of the street and blocked emergency vehicles for a couple of minutes,” Turnage told KXAN.
Video footage shows the Waymo taxi positioned perpendicular across the roadway, with an ambulance waiting behind it for the autonomous vehicle to clear the path. The self-driving car eventually moved slowly forward and turned into what appeared to be a parking garage entrance. However, by that time, the ambulance had already reversed direction and sought an alternative route to reach the shooting victims.
The incident occurred in an area where Waymo vehicles have been operating since January as part of a partnership with Uber. Riders across 133 square miles of Austin, spanning from North Austin to Downtown to Manchaca, have had access to these driverless vehicles for their transportation needs, according to an Uber press release announcing the service expansion.
This is not the first time Waymo’s autonomous vehicles have faced scrutiny over safety concerns. The self-driving cars, which operate in several cities across the United States, have been involved in multiple incidents. Previous mishaps include a collision with a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica and a near-collision involving a family in Los Angeles. These incidents have raised ongoing questions about the readiness of autonomous vehicle technology for widespread deployment in complex urban environments.
Breitbart News reported today that the gunmen in the Austin bar shooting wore an Iranian flag under a “property of Allah” hoodie:
The 53-year-old suspect who opened fire at Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden in Austin, Texas, Sunday morning wore an Iranian flag shirt under his hoodie as he carried out the carnage.
Breitbart News reported that the hoodie bore the words, “Property of Allah” and CBS News observed that a Quran was found in the vehicle the suspect drove to the sight of the shooting.
The shooting suspect was killed while exchanging gunfire with police and identified as a 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen who was born in Senegal. Two people were killed in that attack and fourteen others wounded.
CNN noted that the accused “was wearing a shirt with an Iranian flag design on it underneath a hoodie printed with ‘Property of Allah.’”
Read more at KXAN here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship.
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