Newly released body camera video shows a Dallas County deputy constable as he was forced to move an empty Waymo autonomous vehicle that was stopped and blocking traffic in the area following the deadly May 28 explosion and five-alarm fire at The Clyde apartments in Oak Cliff.
The unoccupied vehicle appeared to be in the path of fire trucks as crews responded to the gas explosion, which killed three people and injured five others. More than 100 firefighters responded to the scene.
In the footage, the deputy constable is heard urging the vehicle to move.
“You’ve got to get out the way,” he said. “Go forward. Go!”
The deputy constable contacted Waymo rider support from inside the vehicle and told an employee that firefighters needed the road cleared.
“If I can manually move it, I’ll move it,” he said.
The Waymo employee remotely unlocked the vehicle, allowing the deputy constable to drive it to a safe location.
A Waymo spokesperson said the vehicle was completing a three-point turn to leave the area when the deputy constable approached. The spokesperson said the vehicle was yielding to other traffic at the time and that the street remained clear for passing vehicles.
“Safety is fundamental to everything we do, and that includes how our vehicles are designed to interact with law enforcement and first responders,” the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said Waymo has trained more than 35,000 first responders nationwide, including thousands in Texas, and makes first responder guides and videos publicly available.
The incident comes as autonomous vehicles continue to face scrutiny in Texas over how they respond to severe weather, emergency scenes and unusual road conditions. Waymo previously paused driverless service in several Texas cities in May, citing severe weather and flooding concerns.