From the Associated Press: Police in Northern California were understandably perplexed when they pulled over a Waymo taxi after it made an illegal U-turn, only to find no driver behind the wheel and therefore, no one to ticket.
The San Bruno Police Department wrote in now viral weekend social media posts that officers were conducting a DUI operation early Saturday morning when a self-driving Waymo made the illegal turn in front of them.
Officers stopped the vehicle, but declined to write a ticket as their “citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot’.”
The Facebook post includes photos of an officer looking into the driverless vehicle. The police department wrote:
🚔 DUI Enforcement… with a plot twist.
During a grant-funded DUI enforcement operation, our officers observed something unusual: an autonomous vehicle made an illegal U-turn right in front of them at a light.
That’s right… no driver, no hands, no clue. 🤖➡️⛔️
Officers stopped the vehicle and contacted the company to let them know about the “glitch.” Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued (our citation books don’t have a box for “robot”). Hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves.
It was a first for both officers…
For those who believe that we are being leniant, there is legislation in the works that will allow officers to issue the company notices…
Whether it’s drivers, passengers, or even driverless cars, we’ll continue to do our part to keep San Bruno’s streets safe.
READ MORE from the Associated Press.
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