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Driverless cars haven’t always followed the rules of the road, but unlike vehicles with humans behind the wheel, they’ve gotten away with it. <\/p>\n
That’s about to change.<\/p>\n
A series based on statewide autonomous vehicle regulations Assembly Bill 1777<\/a> Will take effect July 1 \u2013 including a process to issue a \u201cNotice of AV Non-Compliance\u201d to law enforcement. California Department of Motor Vehicles announced<\/a> Tuesday<\/p>\n Here’s how this new law will work, and what other regulations self-driving vehicle manufacturers will soon have to follow: <\/p>\n The new regulation was developed “to address the gap in how moving violations are handled for autonomous vehicles,” said DMV spokesman Jonathan Groveman. <\/p>\n Although California is home to several autonomous vehicle operators, the most widespread at this point is Waymo \u2014 which has driverless robotaxis piloting passengers in the San Francisco Bay Area and dozens of cities. Los Angeles County<\/a>.<\/p>\n Seven months ago, a self-driving Waymo made an illegal U-turn at a traffic light right in front of police officers in San Bruno. <\/p>\n Image of an officer peeping<\/a> Sitting in the empty driver’s seat of a criminal vehicle may be good for a laugh, but other incidents have been no laughing matter. Situations like Waymo not stopping for a school bus in Atlanta or hitting a child in Santa Monica highlight how law enforcement officers can’t perform traditional traffic enforcement with driverless cars. <\/p>\n Under previous state law, traffic violations were issued to a human driver “to address driving behavior” and were “applied to that person’s driver’s license,” Groveman said in an email. <\/p>\n \u201cBecause autonomous vehicles do not have a human driver \u2014 and existing citations must be issued to a licensed person \u2014 the law establishes a new mechanism that allows an autonomous vehicle manufacturer to issue moving violations,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n According to Groveman, manufacturers must submit a “First Responder Interaction Plan” to the DMV and post it online. Those plans outline how law enforcement can interact with the vehicle and where officers can find important information like registration and insurance documents.<\/p>\n “Driverless vehicles are expected to recognize law enforcement lights and sirens and proceed when appropriate,” Groveman said. <\/p>\n For example, if there is a scenario of a traffic violation involving a driverless car that results in a collision, an officer can send the violation case to the manufacturer’s designated person, who will arrive at the scene. According to the new law<\/a>.<\/p>\n In other circumstances, if an officer does not make a traffic stop, they will provide a copy of the violation to the DMV and the manufacturer within 72 hours of the incident. <\/p>\n Waymo spokeswoman Julia Illina previously told The Times that the company’s vehicles are already subject to oversight by California regulators, and that the company’s autonomous driving system “is designed to respect the rules of the road.” <\/p>\nWhere rubber and robot meet the road<\/h2>\n