What Happens When Google’s Self-Driving Cars Break Major Traffic Laws?

Google’s robotic cars may be driverless but they are not exempt from following the basic road rules. In California, one self-driving car found itself in pursuit by a Mountain View cop for reportedly driving too slow and causing a traffic jam. Think this is a minor offense? Think again.

California’s vehicle laws include code 22400 (a), which prohibits impeding traffic. The law states: “No person shall drive upon a highway at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, unless the reduced speed is necessary for safe operation, because of a grade, or in compliance with law.” Due the serious offense by the self-driving car, police were left with no other option than to make contact through the vehicle’s smart system, which according to Daily Mail, was a direct connection to Google operators.

Accused of going 24 mph in a 35 mph area, the Google operators were reportedly forced to answer questions about how the Google self-driving cars calculate speeds. In a police statement, the Mountain View Police Department revealed that the officer gave the operators specific instructions on how to prevent impeding traffic in the future when monitoring driver-less vehicles.

Google’s self-driving cars have the ability to detect traffic approaching from all sides. Though the cars are driverless, two operators are available at all times to take over the driving if necessary. Because police officers in Northern California are well aware of these abilities, the cop instructed Google operators to pull over to the side of the road when a traffic pile occurred. An agreement was made, and the self-driving car did not get a ticket. The question is, did Google get lucky? According to one Mountain View Sgt., the answer is yes.

Under Sergeant Jaegar’s rule, Google’s self-driving cars should be treated “just like anybody,” but the issue most people have with his ideology is that cars are simply not people. In response to the event and comments made by the police, Google released a statement which basically accuses the police department of discrimination against driverless cars. To keep the merriment that has come about due to excitement that self-driving cars are finally on the roads, Google expressed there concern through humorous sarcasm.

“Driving too slowly? Bet humans don’t get pulled over for that too often.”

Car discrimination aside, the traffic incident has raised some questions about the way Google’s self-driving cars cruise on the roads, which shows that the police officer’s questions to the Google operators may have been necessary. Throughout their time on public roads, Google’s self-driving cars have been in accidents; in most of them, no humans were at fault. With that track record, Google had no choice but to explain themselves fully this time around. In their blog post, the company referred to the driverless vehicles slow driving as a safety measure.

“We’ve capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 m.p.h. for safety reasons. We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets. Like this officer, people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project.”

Google’s self-driving cars have have 14 accidents since hitting public roads in California. Each time a problem occurs, Google simply states that they are working on the bettering the driverless cars. More questions are being raised like, can self-driving cars be hacked, and will Google be out-done by Apple if it doesn’t tweak the bugs? Based on the many Google reports on the safety of self-driving cars, there are no sure answers to the standing questions.

One thing that has become clear after the self-driving car had an encounter with police is the problems are far from over. What may be worse, is that Google is not held responsible. Unlike a human driver, the driverless car didn’t even get a warning ticket. So, what happens when Google’s self-driving cars break major traffic laws?

[Feature Image via Bloomberg/Getty Images]