Austin 6th Street shooting: Waymo did not follow emergency traffic enforcement, officials say

AUSTIN, Texas - City officials said Waymo did not follow emergency traffic enforcement during the 6th Street mass shooting.

City council members are now calling for Waymo to meet with them to ensure this never happens again.

RELATED COVERAGE: Austin 6th Street shooting: Waymo invited to council meeting after self-driving car blocks road

The backstory:

A viral video circulating online shows a Waymo self-driving vehicle blocking an ambulance during the response to the mass shooting on Sixth Street. The company said the car was trying to U-turn after it realized the road was blocked. 

Reports indicate it took about two minutes for a police officer to move the car. 

Austin-Travis County EMS Chief Robert Luckritz addressed what happened in a press conference last week.

"In the grand scheme of the impact on the overall incident, we don't believe it had any impact on patient outcomes," Chief Luckritz said.

What they're saying:

Paige Ellis, the chair of the city’s mobility committee, indicated the car should not have been there in the first place.

"We have since learned that about a half hour went by between when dispatch told autonomous vehicles to stay clear of the area until they actually implemented the steer clear area. That's half an hour with an active shooter situation going on where we had vehicles that got really confused and we have to make sure that public safety is the highest priority," Ellis said.

She, along with four other city council members, have signed a letter addressed to Waymo and said the incident ‘is unacceptable that emergency personnel had to divert their attention to leave their vehicles during an active emergency response to move an autonomous vehicle out of the way.'

"I think the people who live, work, and play in Austin are tired of being guinea pigs and although new technology can be exciting. I cannot have new technology stopping my ambulances, my police officers, and my firefighters from getting where they need to be," Ellis said.

Dig deeper:

In Texas, the authority of cities and counties to regulate autonomous vehicles, even during emergencies, is limited because of state law. The state has exclusive jurisdiction over the operation of automated motor vehicles.

"I would love for us to have the tools to be able to regulate the safety of new technologies on our roads," Ellis said.

Until new legislation passes, council members are asking Waymo to meet with them next month.

"We have seen them be very collaborative when they first launched in Austin. I'm hoping that they're willing to come to the table and really sort this out because the inability to interact with first responders continues to be a problem," Ellis said.

"We do not expect this to be a one-time conversation. Our hope is that this meeting leads to ongoing coordination between autonomous vehicle companies, the City of Austin, our state partners, and our public safety agencies so we can continue improving how this technology operates in real-world conditions," City council member Zo Qadri said in a statement.

The other side:

Waymo said they met on Monday with more than a dozen representatives from the city and welcome the opportunity to have similar discussions with council members and their staff. 

Waymo said they have provided hundreds of thousands of rides to people across the city and smoothly navigates interactions with emergency vehicles at all hours. 

"With over six million fully autonomous miles driven in Austin, Waymo vehicles have been involved in 80% fewer crashes resulting in any injury compared to other drivers. We are committed to building trust with the city through ongoing collaboration with the people who keep Austin safe."

Waymo also provided more information about its response on March 1, saying in an email to FOX 7 Austin:

"We placed initial avoidance zones, as is our standard practice, as soon as we learned of an incident from the city. As more information from the city clarified the incident's scale, we expanded the scope of our avoidance zones."