San Bruno police patrolled drivers when they observed a car traveling irregularly.
But that could not be cracked with an altered or distracted driver. There was no one behind the wheel at all.
The police were disconcerted to see the car – an autonomous Waymo Robotaxi – to make an illegal turn -out just in front of them, the San Bruno police department said on a social media position on Saturday.
“It was a first for the two officers,” wrote the department in the post, which included photos of an officer looking through the front window at the empty driver’s seat.
Because the car did not have a human driver, the police could not issue a ticket, the police noted. Instead, the agents contacted the company to inform them of the “problem”, they said.
“Hopefully the reprogramming will prevent other illegal movements,” the police said.
The incident highlights a gap in California’s law for hundreds of autonomous vehicles traveling the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco.
When autonomous cars violate road rules, the police cannot penalize them in the same way as they can humans. The way in which state law has been interpreted, traffic tickets can only be issued a real driver.
California legislators have sought to fill the law application with new legislation that will take effect in July – but criticisms say that the law is not strong enough.
Waymo spokesperson Julia Ilina said that business vehicles were already subject to current and current monitoring by California regulators, and that the company’s autonomous driving system “is designed to comply with road rules.”
“We are examining this situation and we are committed to improving road safety thanks to our learning and our experience in progress,” said Ilina.
The new law, the Bill of the Assembly 1777, was signed by Governor Gavin Newsom last year and will allow the law enforcement agencies to report cases of “non-compliance” of autonomous vehicles at the Ministry of Engine vehicles. The DMV is chopping details, including potential penalties.
The law in its original form would have enabled autonomous cars to be TICKED for traffic offenses, but it was watered down with modifications at the end of the legislative process.
Among the noisiest criticisms of the law is the Union Teamsters, which said that the law took California “back”.
“I bet the everyday Californians want that when they made a mistake of driving, they obtained a courtesy note instead of an expensive ticket,” Local Mission was said last year Peter Finn, vice-president of the Brotherhood of Teamsters in the Western region.
The union was put pressure for more monitoring of autonomous vehicles, such as the legislation forcing human operators in autonomous heavy trucks and other delivery vehicles.
California Tack is lighter than Arizona or Texas, two other states with a significant presence on the autonomous vehicle. The two states updated their laws years ago to allow agents to issue quotes to the registered owner of the vehicle, even if no human is present.
Autonomous vehicles triggered security problems and a meticulous examination sometimes, including after an incident in 2023 during which a pedestrian was seriously injured by a cruising vehicle.
Several problems with Tesla’s autonomous technology have also aroused criticism, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration opening an investigation into the company after four collisions – one of which killed a pedestrian – occurred while the drivers allowed their cars to drive in low visibility conditions, including fog, air dust and sunburn.
Waymo, which belongs to the mother company of Google Alphabet, says that its vehicles make cities safer, with its cars less prone to accidents than those operated by humans.
Based on the data collected by Waymo, their driver -free vehicles in the four cities they operate held 79% of airbag deployment accidents less and 80% of accidents resulting in injuries that traditional vehicles rolling from the same distance in June 2025.
