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2h ago

San Bruno Police Pull Over Driverless Waymo for Illegal U‑Turn, Exposing Ticketing Gap

State rules to hold AV operators accountable do not take effect until July 2026.

San Bruno police pulled over a driverless Waymo car this weekend, they said.
US police who pulled over a car that had done an illegal u-turn found there was no one in the driver's seat

Overview

  • Officers on a DUI enforcement operation in San Bruno watched a Waymo make an illegal U-turn at a light and initiated a stop.
  • Police could not issue a moving-violation citation because there was no human driver, noting their forms have no category for a robot, and said it was a first for the responding officers.
  • The vehicle yielded to lights and siren, and officers spoke with a Waymo representative through the car’s two-way communication system.
  • Waymo said it is investigating the incident and reiterated that its autonomous system is designed to follow traffic laws.
  • California law currently bars moving-violation tickets to driverless cars, with a new notice-of-noncompliance process and DMV reporting set to begin in July 2026; Waymo has been expanding service in the Bay Area, including recent airport approvals, and has faced a recall and an NHTSA investigation in the past two years.