The Raleigh Police Department confirmed that Policing Lab, the nonprofit developing the technology, presented its autonomous patrol vehicle concept to command staff in February.
For Raleigh residents, the prospect presents a trade-off between more eyes on the street and questions about how closely those eyes should watch.
RPD has not said whether a vehicle in Raleigh would include those capabilities or where autonomous patrols could operate.
An autonomous vehicle can record an incident and alert police, though an officer would still have to respond when someone needs police intervention.
WRAL asked RPD the following questions: What surveillance technology could a vehicle here use, and would it include license plate readers or facial recognition?