SF Chronicle – Waymo driverless car stopped by Bay Area police during DUI operation
Editors note: Key point is that the Waymo robotaxi had been programmed to not follow traffic laws, did an illegal U-turn, and was pulled over by the police. Yet no ticket was written for the illegal behavior since laws in California currently preclude ticketing robotaxis. Fortunately, that will change in July 2026
See original article by Aidin Vaziri at the SF Chronicle
Police in one Bay Area city expected to spend Friday night looking for impaired drivers. Instead, they found themselves pulling over a car with no driver at all.
During a grant-funded DUI enforcement operation in San Bruno, officers watched as one of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles made an illegal U-turn at a traffic light. They stopped the car, only to discover an empty driver’s seat.
“No driver, no hands, no clue,” the department wrote in a social media post.
Officers contacted representatives at Alphabet, the parent company of Waymo, which operates fleets of self-driving taxis. But no citation was issued.
Current California law does not allow moving violations to be written against driverless cars, since there is no human behind the wheel to hold accountable.
“Our citation books don’t have a box for ‘robot,’” the department noted.
The unusual stop highlighted a growing challenge for law enforcement as autonomous vehicles become more common. A state law taking effect in July 2026 will give officers the authority to issue notices of violation directly to companies when their cars break traffic rules.
While some of Waymo’s test vehicles still have people in driver’s seats, for emergencies, that was not the case in this incident.
San Francisco has already faced similar problems. In 2024, Waymo’s self-driving taxis accumulated hundreds of parking tickets totaling more than $65,000 in fines. Federal regulators also launched investigations into reports of the vehicles failing to obey traffic laws.
Separately, in neighboring San Mateo, police running a similar enforcement operation said a man involved in a DUI crash made matters worse by kicking a witness, adding assault charges to his arrest.
For now, San Bruno police say their mission remains the same: keeping roads safe, regardless of who — or what — is driving.
“Whether it’s drivers, passengers, or even driverless cars, we’ll continue to do our part to keep San Bruno’s streets safe,” the department said.
See original article by Aidin Vaziri at the SF Chronicle
