California police pull over a self-driving Waymo for an illegal U-turn, but they can’t ticket

SAN FRANCISCO AP 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 conveyance but declined to write a ticket as their citation books don t have a box for robot That s right no driver no hands no clue read the post which was accompanied by photos of an officer peering into the car Officers contacted Waymo to record what they called a glitch and in the post they reported they hope reprogramming will deter more illegal moves The department s Facebook post has generated more than comments with numerous people outraged that police didn t ticket the company People also needed to know how police got the car to pull over But San Bruno Sgt Scott Smithmatungol stated they can only ticket a human driver or operator for a moving violation unlike parking tickets that can be left with the wagon A new state law that kicks in next year will allow police to account moving violations to the Department of Motor Vehicles which is figuring out the specifics including prospective penalties the Los Angeles Times reports Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina stated the LA Times that the company s autonomous driving system is closely monitored by regulators We are looking into this situation and are committed to improving road safety through our ongoing learnings and experience Ilina revealed Waymos at present operate in Phoenix Los Angeles and San Francisco and in areas south of the city including the suburb of San Bruno It blew up a lot bigger than we thought Smithmatungol revealed of the viral post to The Associated Press on Tuesday We re not a large agency like San Francisco San Bruno has about residents and a sworn police force of officers he explained Waymo is owned by Google s parent company Alphabet Source