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California police stumped after trying to ticket driverless car for illegal U-turn (www.theguardian.com)

submitted 5 months ago by throws_lemy@lemmy.nz to c/nottheonion@lemmy.world

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[-] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 114 points 5 months ago

“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

That's not how it fucking works

How have you guys not bothered to prepare for this? It's not the cop's fault, but it is not a secret that there are Waymo cars in San Francisco. How is this something that nobody thought of?

Last year, California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that allows police officers to issue a “notice of noncompliance” if a driverless car breaks traffic laws. The law goes into effect in July 2026.

Oh, pardon me. So you're on top of it.

The bill was introduced by assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco amid several incidents in the city, including driverless cars blocking traffic, dragging a pedestrian, interfering with firetrucks, and entering active crime scenes.

And your plan was to call up Waymo and ask them politely to improve their tech please? Or, that becomes the plan as of 2026?

With the new law, first responders can order a company to move autonomous vehicles out of an area, and the company has two minutes to direct its cars to leave or avoid that area.

The San Bruno police department, in response to people who believed officers were being lenient, reaffirmed: “There is legislation in the works that will allow officers to issue the company notices.”

My guy these cars went on the road EIGHT FUCKING YEARS AGO

The big invasion of Ukraine was years in the future, Covid hadn't happened and wasn't going to any time soon, Obama had just stepped down, CALIFORNIA EXPLAIN

[-] GrabtharsHammer@lemmy.world 79 points 5 months ago

Dude, you can't just penalize a corporation. That would be commiesocialism or something.

[-] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 27 points 5 months ago

According to the government, "Corporations are people too."

[-] rafoix@lemmy.zip 11 points 5 months ago

And just like real people. They’re dead when they have no more money.

[-] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 6 points 5 months ago

And yet, they can sell their debt

[-] rafoix@lemmy.zip 5 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

That’s only because the liberals government took away Americans’ right to buy and sell people. Gotta bundle debt and people together for good business.

[-] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 1 points 5 months ago

Republicans love to point to those days to claim they're not racist today

[-] Inucune@lemmy.world 9 points 5 months ago

I'll believe a corporation is a person when The Texas department of corrections executes one.

[-] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 12 points 5 months ago

You wouldn't molotovcocktail a car (just because it's putting everyone's safety at risk simply by existing)

[-] crank0271@lemmy.world 8 points 5 months ago

Surely there is a leftist or unhoused person that could be scapegoated and punished for this.

[-] tidderuuf@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago

I believe the federal gubment just declared being anti capitalism is considered an act of terror or something.

[-] KeenFlame@feddit.nu 1 points 5 months ago

But exactly! You guys wanted hypercapitalism, now you complain?

[-] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 12 points 5 months ago

Just tell the cops they're allowed to stab the tires and have it towed. The problem will fix itself one way or another.

[-] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 3 points 5 months ago

You've got the right spirit but I think it's unlikely that the car would realize its tires have been destroyed, I think it would just keep driving around just with less control over its actions which might not be the best.

Give them a little hand-carried version of The Grappler, and then if Waymo has some kind of concern about what has happened to the brakes and suspension and all sorts of shit that is broken now, just give 'em one of these.

[-] Pappabosley@lemmy.world 5 points 5 months ago

I'm not going to stop you, but the car definitely knows the tyre status. Most modern cars have tyre pressure sensing.

[-] FuglyDuck@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

Naw. Cone ‘em and then tow them- at owner’s expense.

[-] brbposting@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

The state’s allowed to ban the company from the roads if they bother too many people or officials—a fairly enormous stick.

Make the whole world’s governments mad? Investors won’t be too happy. Huggge stick.

It does break from our “one immediate fine/ticket for one infraction” paradigm so I understand why it looks bad.

Gosh can you imagine if they drop our numbers from ~seven Californians killed on our roads every day to [far] fewer… (guy can dream, obvy they’re not perfect)

[-] ToastedRavioli@midwest.social 1 points 5 months ago

If the waymo hadnt been painted white they would have unloaded a clip into it instead

[-] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 6 points 5 months ago

“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.

Did nobody think to just write "waymo" and use the company HQ as the driver's address?

[-] deathbird@mander.xyz 25 points 5 months ago

Just impound the vehicle when the driver refuses to sign, or rip the axle out.

You know, like if it had a human owner.

[-] jaybone@lemmy.zip 21 points 5 months ago

Corporations are people right. So why aren’t they sent all these tickets.

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 16 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

These things make illegal left turns across double yellows and even opposing left turn lanes. They will literally stop in the middle of the road and block traffic to make the turn, instead of pulling up to the nearest center lane/left turn lane. I report it every time through the Waymo app but they keep doing it regardless.

It's at the point where I have to carefully plan my route to prevent the car from making stupid illegal moves. But even with the mistakes I still trust them more than I do a human driver. They just need more refinement, but Google doesn't seem to actually give a fuck about my feedback.

That said, at least they actually go to the pickup marker I set and wait patiently for me to arrive, unlike Uber/Lyft drivers who ignore your pickup spot, and then immediately cancel the ride when they don't see me because they went to the wrong pickup spot!

[-] Cassa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 4 points 5 months ago

why in the world would you trust this thing more than a human driver? Like do you feel it's more predictable or smth?

[-] Psythik@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Because I've been on over 50 rides totalling nearly 1000 miles, so I know what to expect. They're very consistent and very cautious; the radar sees everything (you can see what it sees on a screen), even once avoided an accident I would have never seen coming.

Like I said, the kinks have to be worked out, but they're still 10x safer than any human driver IMO. I'll take a Waymo any day over an Uber/Lyft driver. The best part is you don't have to tip! Hell, you don't even have to talk to anybody, because there's nobody to talk to! All of my rides are blissfully silent.

[-] Tower@lemmy.zip 1 points 5 months ago

I used to work there, and I'm in the same boat as !Psythik@lemmy.world. I've got over 10k miles behind the wheel (most from the early days when the software sometimes felt like it was actively trying to kill you) and even with all the stupid shit they still do, I trust it more than 95% of the people on the road. It doesn't have an ego and drive angry, it doesn't get distracted by a phone, etc.

Granted, driving near them can be rough, as they're programmed to follow the laws. And since most people don't, it can be a bit jarring as it's not what you expect from other cars.

[-] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 10 points 5 months ago

May a firefighter tear the cars in half using the jaws of life.

You have 30 minutes to move your cube.

[-] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 7 points 5 months ago

The entire reason they’re deploying AI in the battlefields is to avoid accountability for those firing. The lack of accountability is an intended feature, not a bug.

[-] bigbabybilly@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

A troubling conclusion I hadn’t yet come to. God damn.

[-] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

They’re not being subtle about it. The weapons companies are offering it as a selling point at the conventions.

[-] postmateDumbass@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

Great RoboCop with better weapons.

[-] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 7 points 5 months ago

Aircraft must have pilots in command.

Radio stations must have control operators.

Pedestrian manglers can just roam free!

[-] ICastFist@programming.dev 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Doesn't the car have an owner? Because in Brazil, the ticket always goes to the owner, even when someone else is driving - something that has its share of problems

[-] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 2 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

That's how a lot of US states do it for speed cameras.

Just realized I'm not sure if the same happens when you get pulled over or are driving a rental but in general the idea fixes more problems than it causes.

[-] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 3 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

Ticket the damn manufacturer. They need to be made to understand not to put substandard devices into public hands

[-] jacksilver@lemmy.world 2 points 5 months ago

What is this "Airbud" rules.

Cant give it a ticket cause my ticket book doesn't say anything about "robots" breaking laws.

[-] rumba@lemmy.zip 2 points 5 months ago

Easy, Just impound it. When they have to deal with going to get them in person, they'll stop the illegal shit

[-] aesthelete@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

May you live in stupid times.

[-] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 5 months ago

Okay so they can't give it a citation. However aren't there seperate laws that could be employed? If a car is not roadworthy they are not allowed to let it continue the journey. Like without light at night, or with a missing wheel.

When a driverless car autonomously breaks rules of the road, doesn't that make it a malfunctioning piece of equipment. One that is dangerous to let continue?

[-] PacMan@sh.itjust.works 1 points 5 months ago

It’s easy just tow it!!! Let god sort it out because the tech is not there yet

[-] minorkeys@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

How did you make these legal and not put in place a process for this? Absolutely corrupt incompetence.

[-] PDFuego@lemmy.world 1 points 5 months ago

I can see rego plates in the picture, are they not linked to anyone? Ticket the owner, it's not rocket science.

[-] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 0 points 5 months ago

It really doesn't take much intelligence to figure out who needs to get the ticket for that.

[-] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 0 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago)

It's not a question of what feels right, it's a question of what the law actually says. I'm pretty sure most of us are actually not all that fond of the idea of cops making up or creatively reinterpreting the law to suit their own whims, so I don't see why we should suddenly be cheering for it now.

If the law isn't written in such a way as to be able to apply to driverless vehicles, that's a problem that lawmakers need to correct.

[-] smeenz@lemmy.nz 0 points 5 months ago

Lawmakers are too busy focusing on irrelevant distractions to be addressing gaps in the law.

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this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025

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