So, what if the police had the legal authority to hijack the vehicle and make the car safely pull to the side of the road, instead of the vehicle pulling itself over of its own accord? Police have been asking for access to "takeover" AV's so that in case of a vehicle malfunction that car can safely be pulled over, redirected to a different route, or driven to a police station. Giving police access to AV's could help with crime control, but allowing unobstructed access to all of the autonomous vehicles on the road might not be the best way to address the issue. If the police can access the network of autonomous vehicles and redirect them, or tell them to go somewhere or do something, in particular, hackers will be able to hack into the system and access all of the connected AV's to do their bidding as well. Waymo has partially addressed this issue by building in help buttons and 24-hour hotlines for drivers to call in the case of a roadside emergency or vehicle malfunction. Waymo's staff can't remotely take control of the car, but they can reroute the vehicle if that function becomes necessary after an accident.

The encroaching reality of AV's is going to cause chasmic shifts in traffic policing strategies, policies, and enforcement. So much of policing sometimes exceeds the bounds of a traffic law infraction but is based on traffic law enforcement. An officer can be pulling over a vehicle for a traffic stop and by observation can detect other lawbreaking, such as narcotics and human trafficking. Almost every human driver routinely violates traffic laws. Without the ability to pull over somebody pretextually, for speeding or running a red light, many of these crimes will go undetected. The police could spend days following an AV that is suspected to be involved in a crime without ever having the pretext to pull that vehicle over and stop the illegal activity.

Alternatively, what would happen if the AV could somehow devise that the driver was breaking the law, by sensing the presence of alcohol in the air or checking recent warrants against owner names and driver's faces, and instead of driving her home, drove her to the nearest police station?

Hacking an autonomous vehicle can potentially take several forms, and we won't know the extent of the hacking ability until we are further immersed in the AV world. Hackers have already shown that they can cause a vehicle's engine to stop working. The hacker can use code to tell the vehicle there is something in the path, causing the car to swerve or stop for no reason. The hacker can stop vehicles on the highway, causing unexpected gridlock. The hacker can slow a car down causing slower traffic patterns.  Suicide bombers will no longer have to commit suicide to initiate an attack. Instead, they can send a driverless car packed with explosives down a busy city street. While a system that detects empty cars would be useful for situations like this, one of the main attractions to autonomous cars is the on-demand economy. The vehicle would need to be able to pick up a passenger whenever and wherever summoned.

This is all very far in the future. Currently, most citizens can't legally drive autonomous cars on public roads. Police, lawmakers, and car manufacturers are all eager to get this technology tested and approved for the use of the public. Traffic infractions, accidents, and fatalities will all decrease significantly with the implementation and regular use of autonomous vehicles, and public safety is the most important thing on the agenda of all of the parties involved.