Miami-Dade, Florida – where the air is humid and scalpers sell appointments to the DMV – is also the first police force to operate an autonomous police vehicle. These are Police Interceptor Utilities, put together with similar bits as a Waymo. They call this the PUG, which stands for Police Unmanned Ground Vehicle. Maybe that was partly an ironic comment on how it looks.
It’s packed more tightly than a carry-on on a Spirit Airlines flight: cameras everywhere (including a thermal camera), license plate readers, microphones, and even its own leashed pet drone on the roof. A nonprofit called Policing Lab handed it over for free. Assuming they can say “no tax money!” Don’t we all love loopholes?
But why? The sheriff’s office calls it a game changer. Calling an autonomous unit can help expand deputies’ resources, protect officers and be a terrifying deterrent. Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz says it’s about “community touchpoints.” Because nothing says community like an empty car with cameras staring at you. They say it ultimately won’t replace real police, and a human will have to drive in for the first year anyway, probably to make sure the PUG doesn’t try to join a Waymo fleet and pick up passengers.
What exactly does an empty patrol car do?
Now the question I’m sure you all have right now: will it turn into a chase? Cordero-Stutz says no, not without a human behind the wheel, while emphasizing that the PUG never ignores traffic rules. Given that car chases kill more people every year than tornadoes, lightning and hurricanes combined – that seems like a sensible choice.
But isn’t this a bit of throwing the baby out with the bathwater? I guess to reduce workplace injuries you could simply ask employees to leave – but then nothing would happen. The best way to protect the police is to just not send them? Sending an empty car to a situation seems less helpful than a Molotov mocktail. What’s PUG going to do, roll up and politely display “Please stop committing crimes” on the window? Launch the drone and get really good images of perpetrators wearing masks? We’ve seen regular autonomous cars get absolutely confused by things like traffic cones or fire trucks getting in the way. And elsewhere, the police are already agonizing over how to fine a car without a driver.
Florida’s own politicians worried about liability years agoand now Miami is a testing laboratory. Floridians have to bet on how long it will take for a Brightline train to hit one.
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