The Frisco Police Department announced a partnership with self-driving vehicle technology company Aurora to conduct autonomous vehicle testing. According to Frisco PD’s statement published on the department’s X account (formerly Twitter), the tests will be held on a portion of I-45 south of Dallas, between Palmer and Ennis.
The tests aim to train self-driving technology to recognize emergency vehicles and respond appropriately. During the testing, a Frisco police officer will conduct mock traffic stops and pullovers on a manually driven Aurora Innovation Class 8 truck. The data obtained from these interactions will be used to improve the autonomous trucks’ responses.
“The Frisco Police Department appreciates the opportunity to help ensure these vehicles can conduct safe interactions with law enforcement and the communities in which they operate,” said Officer T. Mrozinski from the Frisco PD Traffic Unit-Commercial Motor Vehicle (CMV) Enforcement.
This partnership and testing is part of an effort by the Commercial Vehicle Safety Alliance (CVSA) to improve autonomous vehicle companies’ safety.
In recent years, the topic of autonomous vehicles has sparked reactions from enthusiasm for new sci-fi-like technologies to concern over the safety and readiness of the vehicles launched to the market.
In August 2023, the California-based company Cruise announced it was in the process of finalizing its operating hours in Dallas after months of tests, expecting the cars to hit North Texas by 2024.
However, in October 2023, California suspended Cruise’s robotaxi services after the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) said in a statement that the service represented “an unreasonable risk to public safety.” According to The Dallas Morning News, the suspension in California came two months after the Public Utilities Commission authorized around-the-clock rides throughout San Francisco.
At the time, the move was heavily questioned by police and fire officials who cited several instances where self-driving vehicles blocked traffic in emergencies during the testing phase. Less than a week after the approval by the PUC, San Francisco residents started posting videos of at least 10 Cruise driverless cars stalled with their hazard lights blinking, blocking intersections, as reported by CNN. “A large festival posed wireless bandwidth constraints causing delayed connectivity to our vehicles,” responded Cruise in a post on X.
In 2022, the CVSA launched a new enhanced CMV inspection program for autonomous trucks that established a no-defect, point-of-origin inspection program for commercial motor vehicles equipped with automated driving systems (ADS).
With big brands like Kroger and Walmart eyeing automated delivery services, safety tests are indispensable. According to Mrozinski, “autonomous trucks are growing to be an important part of Texas’ economy and supply chain.”