Bizarre Twist After Driverless Van Spotted Cruising Around Arlington (Video)

UPDATE 7:35 p.m.: Mystery solved. Apparently, the driver was working on behalf of Virginia Tech on a study to gauge people's reactions to driverless cars. Based on the reaction from the past few days, which involved an NBC 4 reporter chasing the driver through Clarendon, they'll have lots of interesting material to work with when they put together their report.

Original story:

ARLINGTON, VA — A "driverless van" made some waves in Arlington recently after it was seen cruising around the county, but a new twist takes this story to a very weird place.

NBC 4's Adam Tuss posted video, embedded below, that indicates it's not actually driverless at all. Instead, there appears to be someone inside dressed as a seat who is steering the car.

The van was spotted driving around Clarendon, catching the attention of passersby who marveled at the fact that it didn't appear to have a driver.

While driverless cars do exist and have been sent out on public roads, they have a person in the driver's seat who can take over if anything goes wrong.

This is one of the strangest things I've ever seen @nbcwashington @ARLnowDOTcom pic.twitter.com/8ipKEnkeiq
— Adam Tuss (@AdamTuss) August 7, 2017

Arlington Police have since weighed in:

We are aware that testing of automated technologies are occurring in the Commonwealth. PD has not had contact with this vehicle. If a (1/2)
— ArlingtonCountyPD (@ArlingtonVaPD) August 7, 2017

violation is observed by an officer, a traffic stop will be conducted. (2/2)
— ArlingtonCountyPD (@ArlingtonVaPD) August 7, 2017

Image of Ford Transit van, as seen in the video, via Ford