Autonomous Google Car is Pulled Over for Driving Too Slowly

Autonomous cars are slowly joining us on the road, and they’re subject to the same laws as the rest of us as this latest story shows. Police in Mountain View, Calif., pulled over one of Google’s autonomous test vehicles for driving too slowly.

The Mountain View Police Department reports that the Google car was moving slowly in the number-three lane on El Camino Real near Rengstorff Ave, backing up eastbound traffic. The car was traveling 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. After realizing it was an autonomous vehicle, officers contacted the operators at Google to notify them that their car was impeding traffic per 22400(a) of the California Vehicle Code. The department says it meets regularly with Google to make sure its vehicles operate safely in Mountain View.

On the Google Self-Driving Car Project’s Google Plus feed, the team responded with a post explaining why its cars drive slowly. “We’ve capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 mph for safety reasons. We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets.” The post goes on to say that after a cumulative 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving, no Google test car has received a ticket.

Source: Mountain View Police Department, Google Self-Driving Car Project

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