A remotely operated driverless car crashed into a police van in Islamabad after losing its internet connection during a demonstration, with footage of the incident going viral and sparking a wave of memes online.According to local media, the incident took place at D-Chowk, a high-security area in the Pakistani capital, where journalist Muhammad Aalijah was recording a video of a technology-based automated-driving system developed by Abbottabad-based technology enthusiast Ehsan Zafar. The car was being controlled remotely over the internet when a sudden connectivity failure caused its steering to malfunction.Footage shared by Aalijah shows him sitting in the front passenger seat as he explains the vehicle’s features while it moves along the road. The remotely controlled steering wheel then appears to lose control, sending the car towards a police van parked nearby.Aalijah can be seen attempting to stop the vehicle by pulling the handbrake, but the car continues moving and bumps into the police vehicle.Aalijah later told Dawn that he had been asked by Zafar to report on his technology-based automated-driving innovation. He attributed the crash to a “technical fault” triggered by an internet disruption.“Everything was fine until a technical fault occurred due to an internet disruption, causing the car to go out of control and crash into a police vehicle,” he said.According to Aalijah, the vehicle was operated remotely through internet and satellite connections. The loss of the internet connection during the demonstration caused the car to become uncontrollable.In a social media post on Monday, Aalijah sought to clarify that his video was not intended to ridicule Zafar or undermine his work.“The sole purpose was to raise awareness and urge people to remain cautious until any new experiment or technology has been thoroughly tested, proven safe and established as a complete success,” he said.“This was a message of caution, not an attempt to discredit anyone.”Aalijah also warned that the technology was not yet ready to be considered completely reliable.“The vehicle was being operated through satellite and internet connections, but during external control, it went out of control as soon as the internet connection was disconnected and collided with a police vehicle,” he wrote.He said the relatively low traffic at D-Chowk limited the potential consequences of the malfunction, but warned that a similar failure on a busy road could have been far more serious.“If the same situation had occurred on a busy road, the consequences could have been extremely dangerous, even fatal,” he said.“This video is not criticism; it is a responsible effort to raise awareness and issue a warning by all means, experiment, but ensure safety first,” he added.
