Police stumped when Waymo makes illegal U-turn in San Bruno
San Bruno police said they were stumped when a self-driving car made an illegal U-turn during a DUI enforcement operation. Photo: San Bruno police
SAN BRUNO, Calif. - San Bruno police said they were stumped when an autonomous Waymo car made an illegal U-turn during a DUI enforcement operation.
In a Facebook post on Saturday with the audio of Rhianna's "Shut up and Drive," police said that they recently observed something unusual.
A driverless car, which they didn't name, but is a Waymo, made an illegal U-turn in front of them at a light, presumably to avoid the DUI checkpoint.
"That’s right… no driver, no hands, no clue," the post read.
Officers stopped the car and contacted the company to let them know about the "glitch."
A photo shows a police officer bent over the driver's window looking at no one inside.
Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued, and police added snarkily: "Our citation books don’t have a box for robot."
Police didn't say what happened next, like if they sent the Waymo on its merry way or if company officials apologized or would pay a fine.
But hopefully, police wrote, the reprogramming will keep it from making any more illegal moves.
San Bruno police wrote that for those who believe that the officers were being lenient, there is legislation in the works that will allow police to issue the company notices.
In a statement to KTVU, Waymo said that it'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," the statement said.