Robocars allowed to dodge tickets

Police in San Bruno, Calif., were patrolling for drunk drivers when they observed acar traveling erratically.

- BY SUHAUNA HUSSAIN

But this couldn't be chalked up to an impaired or distracted driver. There wasn’t anyone behind the wheel at all.

Officers were bewildered to see the car—a self-driving Waymo robotaxi — make an illegal U-turn at a traffic light right in front of them, the San Bruno Police Department said ina social media post Saturday.

“It wasa first for both officers,” the department wrote in the post, which included photos of an officer peering through the front window at the empty driver's seat.

Because the car did not havea human driver, officers could not issue a ticket, police noted.

Instead, officers contacted the company to let it know about the “glitch,” they said.

“Hopefully the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves,” police said.

The incident highlights a gap in California law for the hundreds of autonomous vehicles roaming the streets of Los Angeles and San Francisco.

When self-driving cars violate the rules of the road, law enforcement can't penalize them the same way that they can humans. The way state law has been interpreted, tickets can be issued only to an actual driver.