Waymo declined to reply questions from WIRED about what number of cameras are inside its autos, precisely how lengthy footage is retained, and whether or not the corporate has ever turned over footage to US federal regulation enforcement or a department of the army. Karp did word, nevertheless, that the corporate’s engineering workforce typically makes use of data from sensors, together with video footage and different knowledge, to run simulations aimed toward bettering its know-how. She says Waymo additionally places limits on each who can entry knowledge and the way lengthy it’s retained.
Waymo’s robotaxi service is at present obtainable within the Phoenix metro space and elements of San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, Texas. Within the firm’s comparatively brief time working in US cities, it has proven a willingness to adjust to requests for footage from regulation enforcement.
Officers working for the Mesa Police Division and the Chandler Police Division in Arizona have been requesting and utilizing footage from Waymos for prison investigations since 2016, or about so long as the autos have been of their cities, in accordance with reporting from Phoenix’s ABC 15. Police instructed the information outlet in 2022 that they’ve used the footage for a number of instances, together with an alleged highway rage incident. (The person pleaded responsible after being charged with disorderly conduct.)
In Might 2022, two months after Waymo started restricted robotaxi operations in San Francisco, Vice reported {that a} coaching doc for San Francisco police explicitly instructed officers that “autonomous autos” have footage that would typically “assist with investigative leads.”
As of 2023, Waymo had been issued a minimum of 9 search warrants in San Francisco and Arizona’s Maricopa County, its main markets on the time, in accordance with reporting from Bloomberg. One of many instances concerned the homicide of an Uber driver in 2021. Whereas San Francisco police stated they couldn’t determine a selected Waymo car that was close to the crime scene, an officer argued that there was “possible trigger” that Waymo autos have been “driving across the space” and had footage of the sufferer, attainable suspects, and the crime scene, in accordance with a search warrant considered by Bloomberg. Waymo complied and supplied footage, but it surely finally didn’t result in the arrest of the suspect, who was convicted of the homicide in 2023.
Final yr, WIRED reported that Waymo had sued two people for allegedly vandalizing its autos in San Francisco and had digicam footage from the vehicles of the alleged incidents. (One of many instances is ongoing; the opposite was dismissed final month.)
Waymo’s video-recording and data-collection practices aren’t distinctive. All autos with self-driving capabilities depend on a mix of lidar, radar, and video knowledge with a view to function. Cruise, the now defunct self-driving-car enterprise run by Normal Motors, additionally reportedly gave digicam footage to regulation enforcement upon request.
Personal homeowners of camera-equipped autos can even voluntarily flip over digicam footage to regulation enforcement. For instance, police in Berkeley, California, have obtained a minimum of two units of footage from the proprietor of a Tesla Cybertruck who stated their automotive was vandalized twice this yr, in accordance with paperwork obtained by WIRED through public file request.
Extra reporting by Paresh Dave.
