Waymo got a ticket and there was confusion about who or what was being ticketed

This situation is not any different from a ticket issued by a speed camera. Since the camera can’t tell who is driving, the fine is issued to the owner of the vehicle (determined by the license plate). The owner is legally responsible for the fine. The only difference between a speed camera ticket and a ticket given by an officer in person is that the speed camera does not result in penalties for driving infraction (eg points on a license or license suspension) only fines. A ticket to a driverless taxi should work the same way; the citation goes to the owner of the vehicle.

Twitter op responded with this, idk if the cop was just having a laugh or what but kinda lost interest due to this.<p>&gt;The whole situation was a societal Turing test: the car was waiting in a bike lane for me.<p>A parking enforcement officer rolls up and thinks someone parked there. But it wasn’t parked: software was driving and waiting for me. A human wouldn’t be ticketed, so why would AI be?

There&#x27;s a full bodycam video here[1] of an officer in Phoenix pulling over a Waymo. The driver&#x27;s window gets rolled down and he gets connected via voice to a Waymo agent and they&#x27;re able to discuss what was going on. Waymo then kept the car parked there and sent someone out.<p>I&#x27;m really curious what the full interaction was like for this SF Waymo. The QR code on the window just links to a couple phone numbers[2] which seems insufficient to me in the case where a car is merely ticketed but not formally pulled over.<p>[1] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;Damnthatsinteresting&#x2F;comments&#x2F;1dvsod6&#x2F;phoenix_police_officer_pulls_over_a_driverless&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.reddit.com&#x2F;r&#x2F;Damnthatsinteresting&#x2F;comments&#x2F;1dvso...</a> [2] <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;waymo.com&#x2F;emergency-response&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;waymo.com&#x2F;emergency-response&#x2F;</a>

I read a blog post years ago about a guy who fought a traffic ticket and ran into the undefined legal area of whether they were laying a charge against him or his vehicle, since they couldn&#x27;t prove it was him driving. I imagine it may be a similar scenario here, but unfortunately I cannot open Twitter links on mobile.

Actually what is supposed to happen here and how the fuck are they allowed on streets without simple rules like this in place?

It seems obvious it&#x27;s the car--or more precisely the operator of the car, i.e. Waymo. Certainly, as a passenger, I&#x27;m not responsible for anything my taxi or rideshare does--absent specific behavior on my part that causes an accident or other violation of course.

Makes me wonder what happens if a self driving car kills somebody because of a fault on the vehicle software or hardware. Can the big corporation behind it just pay a fine and nobody else will get prosecuted? How do you prove that a corporation was negligent?

I imagine waymo has a government relations team, including traffic control relations.<p>So do cops receive training on these situations? Its only going to get worse (probably).

So much for AV never makes mistakes.