Police officers in California pulled over a driverless Waymo taxi after it made an illegal U-turn, according to the New York Post. This happened during a grant-funded DUI enforcement operation when officers noticed a vehicle make the illegal move at a light.
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Driverless Waymo Taxi Pulled Over By Cops For Performing Illegal U-Turn
In a Facebook post from the San Bruno Police Department, they even showed a photo of the driverless vehicle. “That’s right… no driver, no hands, no clue,” it said.
Upon pulling over the vehicle, officers noticed that there was no human driver to give a ticket to. “Officers stopped the vehicle and contacted the company to let them know about the ‘glitch,’ it continued.
The post then joked that its citation books didn’t have a box for “robot” to ticket. “Hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves,” it continued.
The caption noted that this was a first experience for the officers who stopped the vehicle. “For those who believe that we are being leniant, there is legislation in the works that will allow officers to issue the company notices,” it said.
“Whether it’s drivers, passengers, or even driverless cars, we’ll continue to do our part to keep San Bruno’s streets safe.”
Waymo is currently not a nationwide taxi service, so it’s not surprising that these officers have never pulled over a driverless vehicle before. It currently operates in Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix. Waymo plans to launch its autonomous taxis in Miami and Washington later this year and in 2026, respectively.
Concerning the incident, Waymo sent a statement to the outlet. “Waymo’s autonomous driving system, the Waymo Driver, is designed to respect the rules of the road,” it said. “We are looking into this situation and are committed to improving road safety through our ongoing learnings and experience.”
Although Waymo is taking this seriously, the comments on that Facebook post have made plenty of jokes. “I identify as a robot when I get pulled over,” one person wrote.
“Just write the tickets to the ghosts!” Another netizen commented.
Many users were also wondering how the police were able to pull over an autonomous car. “Does it have programming that recognizes your lights behind it or something?” one person questioned.