By Devoun Cetoute
Miami Herald
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MIAMI — South Florida is taking a step into the future as the Miami-Dade Sheriff’s Office will be home to the first autonomous police vehicle in the country.
Unveiled Wednesday, the self-driving police cruiser, named “PUG” or police unmanned ground, will serve as an additional tool for the sheriff’s office, rather than a non-human roving deputy capable of pulling over cars and issuing tickets.
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“It is such an important key piece to provide our community touchpoints and technology that will only make us a safer place to be,” Miami-Dade Sheriff Rosie Cordero-Stutz said of the vehicle, which resembles a Ford Explorer.
Unveiled at Super Cars Room Miami, the PUG was developed by the Policing Lab, a non-profit company, and has been in development for years. The sheriff’s office partnered with the non-profit to be the first law-enforcement agency in the U.S. to have an autonomous patrol car in its ranks.
The Policing Lab donated the vehicle, and the sheriff’s office used no taxpayer dollars to acquire it, said Edward Prokop, a strategic site liaison with the non-profit. If more PUGs are made and sold to law-enforcement agencies, Prokop said the price range would run from $150,000 to $200,000.
The PUG comes equipped with a deployable drone, thermal imaging, 360-degree cameras, license-plate readers, audio sensors and touch-screen windows. The vehicle will primarily drive pre-determined routes, act as a visual crime deterrent and display key messages to the community from its windows.
“Imagine during a hurricane, God forbid, where there is an evacuation area, I got a vehicle that I can just have it in those areas dedicated with information on a banner telling citizens what’s going on,” Cordero-Stutz said. “Additionally, we have hotspot areas that need patrols because presence will deter crime, we can dedicate this car to that area.”
Deputies also will be able to request that it come to active crime scenes to provide support with its drone and other capabilities, Cordero-Stutz said. It will not, however, be used in police chases, as it will be speed-limited and unable to drive on highways.
The PUG will eventually be allowed to drive the streets of Miami-Dade unmanned after a healthy amount of community feedback, the sheriff said. But a deputy will be in the front seat as the vehicle drives itself — for at least the first year.
The sheriff’s office will continue to display the car at community events through October before allowing it to patrol later in the year.
“We want to get it out to as many communities to get as much feedback as possible to help us build a better product,” Cordero-Stutz said.
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