No driver, no ticket? Police pull over Google car
By Samantha Masunaga Tribune Newspapers
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Even autonomous vehicles aren’t immune from
traffic stops.
A Google self-driving car was pulled over, but not ticketed, by a
Mountain View police officer Thursday afternoon. The offense
— impeding traffic by driving too slowly.
In a blog post, the Police Department said the officer noticed cars
stacking up on a major thoroughfare behind a vehicle that was traveling
24 mph in a 35 mph zone. He cut around and pulled up alongside it, then
realized it was a Google self-driving car. Police said the car’s
passenger took over the controls and pulled the vehicle over.
“The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to
learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways
and to educate the operators about impeding traffic,” the department said.
In a separate blog post, Google said the prototype vehicle’s speed
is capped at 25 mph for safety reasons.
“We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming
scarily through neighborhood streets,” the company said. The company
said its vehicles have driven 1.2 million miles without being ticketed.
Sgt. Saul Jaeger of the Mountain View Police Department said
officers regularly see self-driving cars on the road, but this was the
first time they pulled one over.“Our job is focused on safety and
enforcement of the law,” Jaeger said. “In a case like this, we’re
unbiased if it’s an autonomous vehicle or a Bentley or a bicycle.”
On its blog, the department said the human in the car would receive
the ticket.
Associated Press contributed. smasun...@tribpub.com
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