When the term "bounty hunter" is used, most people immediately think of the popular reality television personality, who spends his time pursuing a diverse slate of fugitives across the United States. With the swift development and increasing popularity of autonomous vehicles (AV), at some point in the not-so-distant future, cars might be charged with the duty of bringing lawbreakers to the police, acting as a type of bounty hunter.

So, what if you're leaving work one evening only to find an empty parking spot where your Tesla was parked mere hours before. You call the police and they ask you for permission to take over your car, which you give immediately. The car then receives the command to drive to the nearest police station. If the thief happens to still be in the vehicle when the police take it over, he will be locked inside the car until the police can arrest him. Although this seems advanced and futuristic, law enforcement is reporting that they are taking steps to test the possibility of stopping crimes by taking over autonomous vehicles. Police are working with the car makers because information about AV hacking is invaluable to entities up and down the line of AV manufacturing. GM has begun preparation for issues like this beginning in 2009 by equipping some of its vehicles with an emergency switch that can turn off the engine if the vehicle is stolen.

Last November, early on a California Friday morning, a Tesla was going 70 mph with a turn signal blinking, cruising for miles, and passing exit after exit. A police officer noticed the car and pulled up alongside it, to see the driver with his head slumped over the steering wheel. The officer lit up his lights and turned on his sirens, but the display failed to rouse the driver. The officer guessed, correctly, that the car was driving itself under what Tesla calls Autopilot. At this point in time, police officers do not have the technology or authority to automatically pull over an autonomous vehicle that is driving using autopilot. Since the driver, in this case, was unresponsive, the officers had to use innovative techniques to get the car safely to the side of the road. One officer blocked traffic while another pulled in front of the offending vehicle and continually slowed down until the two vehicles were stopped. This appears to be the first case where law enforcement has stopped a vehicle on an open road under the control of an automated system, but it surely won't be the last. AV's can't drive unchecked on the roads until car makers, lawmakers, and police work through several difficult problems.