Driverless vehicles in the Californian city of San Francisco are being held to a different standard to human-driven cars, with police pointing out they aren’t allowed to cite the empty vehicles for moving violations.

The website sfgate.com reports police don’t have the authority under California’s vehicle code to ticket the cars for speeding, running red lights or failing to stop for pedestrians.

“Technology evolves rapidly and, at times, faster than legislation or regulations can adapt to the changes,” San Francisco Police Department’s chief, William Scott explains, which was titled “Interacting with Autonomous Vehicles.”

Officers must take down any relevant information in an incident report, and forward it on to the department’s traffic division and its commercial vehicle unit.

The report suggests the California Public Utilities Commission and the Department of Motor Vehicles would “soon suggest legislation changes to the Vehicle Code”.

(File picture – Waymo)