ONE of the biggest issues with self-driving cars like those operated by Waymo has finally come into the spotlight after a recent traffic stop.
Police officers and drivers alike are unsure of exactly how to handle the incident, and others like it which are becoming more and more common.
Photos shared by the San Bruno Police Department of the incident in question[/caption]
The model pulled over was a discontinued Jaguar I-Pace[/caption]
California police officers recently pulled over a Waymo autonomous vehicle (a Jaguar I-Pace model) after it committed a traffic violation right in front of them.
The self-driving car made an illegal U-turn at a light, its software seemingly not recognizing that this wasn’t permissible. However, the officers didn’t realize it was a self-driving vehicle until after pulling it over.
After approaching the window and realizing the situation, the San Bruno police department made a Facebook post poking fun at the situation, complete with the hit Rihanna song Shut Up and Drive attached to the post.
“Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued (our citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot’), ” the post said of the traffic stop’s ultimate resolution.
Instead, Waymo was notified of the issue and will investigate the software to identify and correct whatever glitch caused this behavior.
While this ending doesn’t offer much in punishment and accountability, a new law will allow officers to give the companies behind the cars citations.
California Governor Gavin Newsom has already signed Assembly Bill 1777 into law, which permits officers to issue a “notice of noncompliance” to companies whose driverless cars break traffic laws.
However, the law doesn’t go into effect until July 2026, meaning there’s truly nothing police officers can do to lawbreaking autonomous vehicles until then.
This is particularly worrisome for how often these autonomous vehicles break the law, and the danger they can pose when doing so.
Earlier this week, another Waymo autonomous vehicle was caught on camera illegally passing a stopped school bus in Atlanta.
The school bus was clearly pulled over, and had both its stoplights on and stop signs extended as children were actively exiting the bus.
Just last year, Georgia passed Addy’s Law, which punishes drivers who illegally pass a school bus with a $1,000 fine and jail time.
However, when a self-driving car violates this law, there’s no one to punish under current state legislation even if someone were to get hurt as a result of the vehicle’s actions.
Neither Waymo nor the San Bruno Police Department immediately returned The U.S. Sun’s request for comment.
Ethan Teicher, PR manager of policy and corporate communications at Waymo, responded to The U.S. Sun’s request for comment with the following:
Ethan Teicher’s Comment On Waymo Cars Violating Traffic Laws
Waymo, formerly known as the Google Self-Driving Car Project, first launched its full commercial service of self-driving cars in Arizona in October 2020.
The service is now also available in select California, Georgia, and Texas areas, with expansions to other areas within these states and new states such as Colorado, Florida, New York, Tennessee, and Washington, as well as Washington, DC, announced.
WAYMO WAY POPULAR?
The expansion of Waymo to many different metropolitan areas in recent years has created a fascination with them for some, who are even going out of their way to get a ride from one.
The company’s rapid growth and surge in popularity are also influencing traditional rideshare companies like Lyft to expand into the new area of business.
However, it isn’t all glitz and glam for self-driving cars, with Waymo’s own vehicles having an issue with colliding into clearly visible objects which a human driver would be expected to avoid.
The company’s cars were also shown to be taking on human behavior while driving, causing concern that the vehicles aren’t actually more cautious than a person behind the wheel would be.
Jaguar I-Paces are on their way to making up the entirety of Waymo’s fleet after the company promised to switch to all-electric vehicles exclusively[/caption]
Another photo of the incident shared by the San Bruno Police Department[/caption]
