Miami-Dade, Florida — where the air is humid and scalpers are selling appointments to the DMV – are also the first police force to pilot an autonomous police vehicle. These are Police Interceptor Utilities mashed up with similar bits to a Waymo. They call this the PUG, which stands for Police Unmanned Ground vehicle. Maybe that was partially tongue in cheek at how it looks, as well.
It's packed tighter than a carry-on bag onto a Spirit Airlines flight: cameras all around (including a thermal camera), license plate readers, microphones, and even its own leashed pet drone on the roof. A non-profit called Policing Lab handed it over for free. Assumingely so they can say "no taxpayer dollars!" Don't we all love loopholes?
But why? The Sheriff's office is calling it a game-changer. Citing an autonomous unit can help extend deputy resources, protect officers, and be a scary-looking 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 actual cops, and for the first year a human has to ride inside anyway, probably just to make sure the PUG doesn't try to join a Waymo fleet and start picking up passengers.
Now for the question I am sure you all have at this point — will it engage in pursuit? Cordero-Stutz say no, not without a human behind the wheel, while doubling down that the PUG never ignores the rules of the road. Given that car chases kill more folks each year than tornadoes, lightning, and hurricanes combined — that seems to be the sensible choice.
But isn't this a bit of throwing the baby out with the bathwater? I suppose to lower jobsite injuries, you could simply ask the workers to leave — but then nothing gets done. The best way to keep cops safe is to just not send them? Sending an empty car to a situation seems less helpful than a molotov mocktail. What's PUG gonna do, roll up and politely display "Please Stop Committing Crimes" on its window? Launch the drone and get really good footage of perpetrators wearing masks? We've seen regular autonomous cars absolutely flummoxed by things like traffic cones or getting in the way of firetrucks. And cops elsewhere are already scratching their heads over how to ticket a car with no driver.
Florida's own politicians worried about liability years ago, and now Miami is a test lab. Floridians should place their bets on how long until a Brightline train hits one.
