Crime Alert

Knife-wielding man attacking women in local parking lots

Austin Police have released this photo of the suspect.

Austin Police Department

UPDATE: Police said Thursday they have arrested a man suspected of being behind a series of robberies.

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KVUE — Police said Wednesday that a knife-wielding serial robber is targeting women in store parking lots, attacking six women in three days, including one who was holding a 2-year-old child at the time of the robbery.

Austin police said the man is using a large kitchen knife to threaten women.

According to police, the attacks started the morning of Sunday, November 9. The suspect stole the victim's rental car, a 2013 gray Toyota Corolla, from the parking lot of the Target on Interstate 35 near 51st Street. Police said the man has been using the stolen rental car. The man allegedly robbed a woman at the H-E-B on East Riverside Drive on Sunday night.

Police said on Monday morning, the man robbed a woman at the Fiesta off I-35, then another woman at the Wal-Mart off U.S. Highway 183 near 290. Less than an hour later, police said he robbed someone at the H-E-B on North Lamar Boulevard. Around 5:15 pm Tuesday, police believe the suspect struck again, at the Central Market on South Lamar Boulevard.

Police described the suspect as a white man between 50 and 60 years old. He is about 6 feet tall with a thin build, blue or green eyes, salt and pepper hair and a scruffy beard and mustache. Investigators said they believe he may be a transient and uses drugs.

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

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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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