University students from Virginia Tech fooled the residents of Arlington with what appears to be a completely autonomous vehicle.
Dumbfounded at the cars ability to navigate the streets independently, pedestrians began taking photographs and videos of the car, which consequently got posted on the internet.
In a matter of hours, the content went viral and people all over the web reacted to the news of a completely autonomous vehicle prowling the streets of Virginia.
If you haven’t already guessed yet, the whole thing turned out to be a prank (as such), and after Adam Tuss of NBC Washington caught the vehicle at a red light, he discovered that the car was being operated by a hidden driver.
Using the seat cover to cloak himself, a student operated the peddles and wheel from concealable angles to provide the illusion that the car was driving itself.
Speaking to the press, a representative from Virginia Tech stated; “The driver’s seating area is configured to make the driver less visible within the vehicle, while still allowing him or her the ability to safely monitor and respond to surroundings.”
This isn’t the first time we’ve seen the self-driving car prank, with the 2014 Toyota Aygo commercial showcasing a range of drive-through reactions.
Although there has been no confirmation, reports suggest the prank was in fact an experiment to analyse how drivers react to autonomous vehicles on the road.
