---
title: "Police Drone Caught Barking Orders at Chinese Driver"
description: "Order From Above Police in China don’t have to pull drivers over to warn them of traffic offenses — they can simply bark orders from hovering drones. On Friday, state broadcaster CCTV aired footage of traffic police using a drone to tell a scooter rider to put on his helmet, according to a newly published […]"
date: "2019-09-09"
modified: "2019-09-09"
authors:
  - name: "Kristin Houser"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kristin"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/police-drone-orders-chinese-driver"
categories:
  - "Drones"
  - "Robotics"
  - "Robots and Machines"
tags:
  - "china"
  - "police drone"
  - "surveillance"
  - "the digest"
---

# Police Drone Caught Barking Orders at Chinese Driver

![On Friday, state broadcaster CCTV aired footage of traffic police using a drone to tell a scooter rider to put on his helmet, according to a newly published South China Morning Post story.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/police-drone-orders-chinese-driver.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Images via Pixabay/Victor Tangermann\</em\>*

## Order From Above

Police in China don't have to pull drivers over to warn them of traffic offenses — now they can just bark orders from hovering drones.

On Friday, state broadcaster *CCTV* aired footage of [traffic police](<https://futurism.com/first-police-robots-traffic-china>) using a drone to tell a scooter rider to put on his helmet, according to a newly published *South China Morning Post* [story](<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3026051/traffic-police-china-are-using-drones-give-orders-above>). After realizing the disembodied voice was speaking to him, the rider sheepishly complied.

*SCMP* reported that within four hours, the clip garnered 34 million views on the Twitter-like Chinese site Weibo, with most social media users appearing to find it humorous.

https://youtu.be/ynEZrPdJ6gE

## The New Normal

That response could indicate that people in China are becoming — or, perhaps, already are — desensitized to the nation's Big Brother-esque surveillance efforts.

After all, China is already home to arguably the world's most extensive network of [facial recognition-equipped security cameras](<https://www.scmp.com/tech/policy/article/3020977/chinas-facial-recognition-mania-now-extends-public-housing-and-trash>). It closely monitors — and controls — [citizens' online activity](<https://www.businessinsider.com/how-china-is-watching-its-citizens-in-a-modern-surveillance-state-2018-4>), using what it learns to assign each person a [social credit score](<https://futurism.com/china-social-credit-system-rate-human-value>) that can prevent them from traveling outside the nation's borders.

Compared to all that, a police drone that monitors and bosses around citizens as they navigate Chinese streets probably does seem funny.

**READ MORE:** [Traffic police in China are using drones to give orders from above](<https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/3026051/traffic-police-china-are-using-drones-give-orders-above>) \[*South China Morning Post*\]

**More on police tech:** *[China Deploys Its First Robot Traffic Police](<https://futurism.com/first-police-robots-traffic-china>)*

### Author social links  
[LinkedIn](<https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinjhouser>)