Video footage has emerged showing a tense moment when a Waymo autonomous vehicle temporarily obstructed ambulance crews in Austin, Texas, who were racing to respond to a tragic mass shooting on Sunday.
The incident unfolded at approximately 2 a.m. in a bustling entertainment district where a gunman opened fire, resulting in the deaths of three individuals and injuring 13 others.
The video shows the Waymo vehicle coming to a halt in a sideways position on the road as an ambulance, lights flashing, approached the scene.
As the self-driving car hesitated, stopping and starting sporadically, onlookers, visibly anxious, yelled at the vehicle to clear the path.
A photograph captures the Waymo car obstructing emergency responders in the heart of downtown Austin. (Matthew Turnage/Fox 7 Austin)
Shortly afterward, an Austin police officer arrived on the scene, entered the driverless car, and maneuvered it into a nearby parking garage, clearing the way for emergency vehicles.
The company told Fox News Digital that, in the wake of the shooting, a Waymo car had been hailed by a rider for pickup when it identified a “road blockage and began executing a U-turn.”
As the ambulance appeared mid-turn, the car then “briefly yielded and was assisted by a nearby officer.”
A Waymo self-driving vehicle is positioned near police cars with flashing lights outside a downtown Austin parking facility at night. (Matthew Turnage/Fox 7 Austin)
The company added that the incident served as a learning opportunity for road safety, particularly in densely populated cities.
The Austin-Travis County EMS (ATCEMS) chief addressed the incident Monday, emphasizing that the blockage likely had little impact on the victims’ outcomes as police still arrived at the scene in less than a minute.
A police officer enters a Waymo self-driving car. (Matthew Turnage/Fox 7 Austin)
“[ATCEMS], as well as our fellow public safety partners, work very closely with the autonomous vehicle vendors that operate here in the city of Austin,” Robert Luckritz said during a press conference. “We had more than 20 assets, resources that responded to this event. As said at an earlier press conference, we were on scene within 57 seconds. So in the grand scheme of the impact on the overall incident, we don’t believe it had any impact on patient outcomes.”
Luckritz added that ATCEMS has been in contact with Waymo to discuss steps for addressing the issue moving forward.
Police drive the Waymo self-driving vehicle into a garage in downtown Austin. (Matthew Turnage/Fox 7 Austin)
Early Sunday, multiple people were shot outside Buford’s Backyard Beer Garden on West 6th Street in downtown Austin, Texas.
Sources said the mass shooting is being investigated as a potential terrorism nexus, possibly linked to the recent U.S. and Israel strike on Iran, after the suspect — identified as 53-year-old naturalized U.S. citizen Ndiaga Diagne — was found wearing a “Property of Allah” sweatshirt and an undershirt depicting the Iranian flag.
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