The Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA) and autonomous driving technology company Waymo have created an online safety training course aimed at first responders.
The course aims to give first responders – including law enforcement officers, firefighters, emergency medical services and tow-truck operators – the knowledge and tools to safely interact with new and emerging technologies like autonomous vehicles (AVs), especially when there is no driver.
To ensure first responders feel confident, Waymo’s First Responder Outreach team leads hands-on vehicle trainings with local fire, police and EMS organizations well in advance of opening their service to public riders.
This new, complimentary online instruction supplements the comprehensive in-person training and safety resources available in cities where Waymo vehicles are deployed.
“Waymo and other AVs can unlock tremendous safety and mobility benefits for everyone,” said GHSA CEO Jonathan Adkins.
“We owe it to our first responders – the first line of defense when there’s a problem on the road – to make sure they are prepared to safely interact with these vehicles.”
The free online training is divided into three modules:
- Introduce Waymo’s fully autonomous vehicles, show where they currently operate and explain how the vehicles respond to police and emergency operations.
- Provide detailed instructions on how to approach and interact with a Waymo autonomous vehicle.
- Explain critical safety procedures for first responders who need to extricate passengers or disconnect a vehicle’s battery.
In addition to the online Waymo training, GHSA has developed a first responder autonomous vehicle resource page that provides information about where AVs are being deployed and includes links to first responder resources available from other developers, like Aurora and Zoox.
