SAN FRANCISCO—San Francisco supervisors voted Dec. 6 to put the brakes on a controversial policy that would have let police use robots for deadly force—reversing course just days after their approval of the plan generated fierce pushback and warnings about the militarization and automation of policing.
The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to explicitly ban the use of robots in such a fashion for now. But they sent the issue back to a committee for further discussion and could vote in the future to let police use robots in a lethal manner in limited cases.
The board voted last week to allow the use of deadly robots in extreme circumstances. The police department said it had no plans to arm the robots with guns but wanted the ability to put explosives on them and use them to contact, incapacitate or disorient dangerous or armed suspects when lives are at risk….