One of Google’s self-driving cars has been pulled over by a police officer who determined it posed a safety risk because it was travelling too slowly.
According to the Mountain View Police Department in California, the self-driving vehicle, regarded as the next big innovation for the tech giant, was travelling at 24mph in a 35mph zone. An officer spotted traffic building up behind the car, and pulled it over.
The officer made contact with the vehicle’s operators, and came to the conclusion that Google’s car didn’t actually break any road-traffic laws, but warned that driving like that could result in possible safety risks. While neither Google nor the police department has detailed who was in the car, California laws dictate that the cars must have a human operator who can take control of the wheel in cases of emergency.
Police spokespersons say that the officer asked how the car was determining which speed to drive at, and that the officer pointed to a part of California law that demands that “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.”
The incident ended with a warning from the police officer, though Google remains steadfastly proud of its road-safety record, saying “After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that’s the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we’re proud to say we’ve never been ticketed!”
In June, Google did reveal that its autonomous vehicles had been involved in 12 minor collisions while undergoing its on-road tests. But as the company reminds concerned motorists, 11 of these involved the car being rear-ended by another driver, and the other involved a human driver using the Google car with the self-driving mode switched off.
