A viral video out of Austin is raising questionsabout how self‑driving cars respond during emergencies.

A man recorded what appears to be a Waymo vehicle blocking first responders during the deadly shooting on West Sixth Street.

AWaymo robotaxi sits in the roadway as an ambulance tries to reach the scene.The car inches forward but does not clear the way.

Thenan officer appears to communicate with the company through the car's external speaker system before getting inside and driving it away.

Waymo says vehicle attempted U-turn

Whenasked about the incident, Waymo told CBS News Texas the vehicle immediatelybegan making a U-turn to clear the way, and a nearby officer assisted.

Austin-TravisCounty EMS Chief Robert Luckritz addressed the incident on Monday.

"We were on scene within 57 seconds, and so in the grand scheme of the impact on the overall incident, we don't believe it had any impact on patient outcomes," he said. "I will say that we're already in touch with Waymo and the autonomous vehicles to give them our concerns and work with the min order to try and address this moving forward."

Critics warn of future risks

"That's great if, in fact, that was the case and they were very lucky, but what's going to happen next time?" Witherite Law Group Managing Attorney John Nohinek said.

Nohinek has been tracking autonomous vehicle cases and is especially concerned about one in Atlanta.

"The Waymo had a passenger, drove past emergency vehicles and into an active crimescene," he said. "They have failed to stop and pass school buses.Failure to yield the right of way both to vehicles, and pedestrians, moreimportantly, it's very concerning."
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Federalsafety investigation underway

Nohinek says this prompted the National Transportation Safety Board to open a formalsafety investigation into Waymo.

"They don't do that lightly," he said. "That means that there is a higherdegree of safety risk that they need to investigate."
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Cities urged to slow deployment

While the Austin incident was brief and temporarily blocked an ambulance headed to the shooting scene, it is a new safety concern for critics who are urging cities to put the brakes on autonomous vehicles.