Cops in California were surprised by a lack of driver after pulling over a Waymo, but existing regulations don't allow them to issue a ticket
San Bruno sits between San Francisco — a city that’s long acted as a lab for the Google-owned driverless car company — and Silicon Valley, where Google and other tech giants make their homes. "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," the San Bruno Police Department said in aWaymo vs traffic cops: “no driver, no hands, no clue” In a subsequent comment on the post, the police department said that when they attempted to pull it over, the car automatically did so.
The department added: "That’s right… no driver, no hands, no clue." That was followed by a robot emoji and a no-entry sign emoji; the post was accompanied by Rihanna’s "Shut Up and Drive.", a Waymo spokesperson said: "Waymo’s autonomous driving system, the Waymo Driver, is designed to respect the rules of the road. We are looking into this situation and are committed to improving road safety through our ongoing learnings and experience."The statement added that the vehicle was stopped and Waymo contacted to advise the company of the "glitch", but Waymo faces no fine because California laws haven't yet caught up with the technology — despite its cars first being pulled over in the state"Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued ," the police post said. "Hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves." The police added that a system was being developed to bill driverless companies for such fines. "For those who believe that we are being leniant , there is legislation in the works that will allow officers to issue the company notices."that will mean driverless companies finally face enforcement in California for road violations after years of being able to avoid traffic tickets. That legislation comes into force in California next summer, and would start to close a loophole that currently allows driverless cars to avoid fines for moving violations, as police must issue traffic tickets to the driver. Police couldn't hand a ticket to a car, but were told to collect pertinent details in an incident report. Under the new system, driverless cars still won't receive tickets, but rather be issued a "notice of noncompliance" via the Department of Motor Vehicles. Exactly what that notice entails must be sorted out before the law comes into play in July 2026. Rear view of Waymo autonomous vehicle stopped at traffic signal with Muni clean air bus in background on 4th Street, San Francisco, California, May 27, 2025. That loophole and the new bill to close it only applies to moving violations. Plenty of parking fines have been doled out to driverless vehicles, as have other road violations such as parking in a bus zone or obstructing traffic. In onefrom 2023, over a year-long period, Cruise racked up about 40 such violations in San Francisco, while Waymo received about 90. Of course, it's hardly the first time a driverless car has broken road laws. In 2022, police in San Francisco approached a Cruise vehicle after spotting the car driving without headlights; after they walk up and spot the lack of driver, the car, which the company pinned on the robotaxi seeking a safer position. Last year, a Waymo robotaxi was pulled over in Phoenix after swerving into an oncoming lane, with his body camera capturing a surprised "hello!" upon realising there was no driver.
Waymo Traffic Stop Waymo Legal Waymo Driverless
United States Latest News, United States Headlines
Similar News:You can also read news stories similar to this one that we have collected from other news sources.
Bay Area police officers pull over Waymo robotaxi during DUI operationA police department in the Bay Area said over the weekend that they dealt with an unusual circumstance, pulling over a driverless vehicle for a moving violation.
Read more »
SEC Tells Issuers to Pull 19b-4s; ETFs Could Be Approved ‘Absurdly Fast’A recent rule change allows exchanges to list crypto ETFs without individual SEC review, streamlining the process, with approval potentially happening any day.
Read more »
Waymo Says There’s a Perfect Reasonable Explanation for Its Car Roaming a Golf CourseI've been at Futurism since 2017, where my role has evolved to encompass design, writing, and increasingly editing.
Read more »
SEC asks issuers to pull altcoin ETFs filings after generic listing approvalThe US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has directed prospective issuers of XRP, Solana (SOL), Dogecoin (DOGE), Litecoin (LTC) and Cardano (ADA) exchange-traded funds (ETFs) to withdraw their 19b-4 filings, following the approval of generic listing standards for crypto products.
Read more »
Cops pull over driverless Waymo taxi during DUI operation: 'No driver, no hands, no clue'Today's Video Headlines: 09/29/25
Read more »
Policer officers pull over Waymo, and are unable to ticket a robotBusiness Insider tells the global tech, finance, stock market, media, economy, lifestyle, real estate, AI and innovative stories you want to know.
Read more »