AUSTIN, Texas — A video circulating on social media shows a Waymo autonomous vehicle blocking an ambulance that was responding to a shooting early Sunday at a bar in Austin.
The large police and EMS presence was in response to a shooting at Buford’s, a popular bar in the city’s West 6th Street entertainment district. Two people were killed and 14 were injured, and police later shot and killed the suspect. The incident is currently under investigation by the FBI as a possible terrorist act.
In the video, the Waymo can be seen completely blocking the EMS vehicle in the middle of a street as the ambulance had its emergency lights on. Austin Police Department vehicles can also be seen further down the street and one eventually pulls up behind the Waymo.
About halfway through the video, a police officer gets out of their cruiser and approaches the Waymo to speak to the company through its speaker system. The Waymo then drives away after another 30 seconds.
Austin-Travis County EMS spokesperson Capt. Christa Stedman told Axios: “A driverless vehicle was stopped in the area while our crews were responding to this morning’s shooting, and it did briefly interfere with access for one ambulance.”
According to Axios, first responders do receive training on how to handle driverless vehicles.
“The officer in the video followed established protocol to address the situation and was able to quickly move the vehicle so ATCEMS units could proceed,” Stedman added in the statement to Axios.
The incident highlights growing concerns with driverless vehicles in the city recent months. Last December, Austin ISD caught Waymo vehicles passing stopped school buses and coming close to hitting children de-boarding the buses, leading to a mass recall.
Waymo recently announced it’s testing its autonomous vehicles on major highways in cities like Austin, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix.