Earlier this week, a so-called driverless van was spotted roaming the streets of Arlington, Virginia. The silver van, which had Virginia license plates and tinted windows, according to ARL Now, was believed to be a part of autonomous-vehicle testing currently being conducted by Virginia Tech. Reader, it was not an autonomous vehicle being tested by Virginia Tech. Instead, as discovered by NBC’s Adam Tuss, it appears the secret to the van’s apparent driverlessness was actually a driver, dressed in a car-seat disguise and sitting behind the wheel.
We don’t know a whole lot about our car-seat-wearing hero. Weirdly, Tuss knocking on his van window and hollering, “I’m with the news, dude,” didn’t warrant a response and the van sped off, running a red light in the process. (Authorities have reportedly yet to locate the van.) Was it a test related to actual driverless cars? Was is just some truly inspired kid with a driver’s license and some time to kill on summer vacation? The world may never know.
