If a driverless car makes an illegal U-turn, does the car still get a ticket? A police department in California grappled with this existential question last week, says The Guardian.
During a DUI enforcement operation, officers in San Bruno pulled over a car without anyone behind the wheel after the autonomous vehicle made an illegal U-turn at a light. A post by the San Bruno police department on Saturday shows an officer looking into a Waymo after stopping the signature white car.
“Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued (our citation books don’t have a box for “robot”),” reads the post.
The department said that it had alerted Waymo of the glitch, and that “hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves”.
In a statement, Waymo said that the company’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,” reads a statement sent to the Guardian.
(Pic: Waymo)
