Tales from the Crypt

Austinite donates human skull to North Lamar Goodwill

One Austinite is keeping things weird with a bizarre Goodwill donation. On Wednesday, the Austin Police Department issued a statement asking for the public's assistance in locating a person who donated a human skull to Goodwill. The macabre item was donated to the store located at 5555 N. Lamar Blvd.

Detective Derek Israel of the Homicide Unit stated during a press conference that the skull was discovered by Goodwill employees on July 16. Goodwill then contacted APD, who turned the skull over to the Travis County Medical Examiner's Office.

"The Medical Examiner here in Travis County has a responsibility to try to identify the identity of any human remains and the circumstances under which the person died," said Israel. "So they requested the assistance of the Police Department in trying to find out who the person is that made this donation."

The Medical Examiner's Office hasn't released a report on the skull, but Israel said it belonged to an adult. At this time, it is not believed to be involved in any crime or foul play; it's more likely that the skull was part of a private collection or an anatomical model.

"I'm sure that person's going to remember having donated that," said Israel.

The skull and the container it was discovered in could have been donated at any time this year. And since items can simply be dropped of at Goodwill, there is not paperwork or a receipt to help identify who donated the skull. The skull was handled by several employees, so it would be difficult to identify anyone through fingerprints.

If anyone has further information about the skull or who donated it, they can call the APD Homicide Unit at 512-974-5210.

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Self-driving Roller Coaster

More self-driving cars expected to roll out in Austin for 2025

Photo courtesy of Waymo via KVUE

Various brands offering self-driving cars are on-and-off in Austin.

Expect to see more self-driving rideshare vehicles, also known as robotaxis, on Austin roads next year.

Robotaxi company Waymo, which you may have already seen on Austin's roads, is partnering with Uber. At some point next year, customers will be able to use the Uber app to call a self-driving ride.

Austin-based company Avride is in the testing phase and plans to roll out its robotaxis next year.

Currently, Volkswagen ADMT and Amazon's Zoox are in the testing phase in Austin, while Hyundai's Motional is in the mapping phase.

Last year, robotaxi company Cruise paused operations in Austin after the California Department of Motor Vehicles revoked the company's permits to operate driverless vehicles in the state. And last week, General Motors said it would no longer fund the company because of the time and resources needed.

This way of getting around has come with its safety concerns and issues. The city is tracking those concerns. According to the Transportation Department, the problems span from blocking the roads and parking in front of people's homes for weeks with lights beaming through their windows, to actual wrecks.

Since July 2023, robotaxis have been involved in 75 incidents. Only 21 of those incidents happened in 2024. It's important to note that Cruise has not been operating in Austin this year.

Since July 2023, driverless rideshare vehicles have been involved in 22 near collisions, eight collisions and seven instances where driverless taxis ignored directions from the Austin Police Department (APD).

According to the data, at least four of those Austin police incidents happened in recent months. The issues varied from driving through police checkpoints, to malfunctioning and getting stuck at an APD road closure near pedestrians, causing safety concerns.

A Waymo spokesperson said their vehicles have gesture recognition capabilities, which they've been training APD officers on using.

As the report shows, sometimes it does not work and Waymo said it is working to improve that. The spokesperson said that as of just last week, Waymo's First Responder Program has been independently verified by TÜV SÜD, making Waymo the first autonomous vehicle (AV) company to receive third-party validation for our emergency response protocols. They also said the data to date indicates the Waymo Driver is already reducing traffic injuries and fatalities in the places where the company currently operates.

Read the full story and watch the video at KVUE.com.

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