this post was submitted on 30 Sep 2025
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[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 240 points 1 week ago (6 children)

“Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued (our citation books don’t have a box for “robot”),” reads the post.

The department said that it had alerted Waymo of the glitch

That's not how it fucking works

How have you guys not bothered to prepare for this? It's not the cop's fault, but it is not a secret that there are Waymo cars in San Francisco. How is this something that nobody thought of?

Last year, California governor Gavin Newsom signed into law a bill that allows police officers to issue a “notice of noncompliance” if a driverless car breaks traffic laws. The law goes into effect in July 2026.

Oh, pardon me. So you're on top of it.

The bill was introduced by assemblymember Phil Ting of San Francisco amid several incidents in the city, including driverless cars blocking traffic, dragging a pedestrian, interfering with firetrucks, and entering active crime scenes.

And your plan was to call up Waymo and ask them politely to improve their tech please? Or, that becomes the plan as of 2026?

With the new law, first responders can order a company to move autonomous vehicles out of an area, and the company has two minutes to direct its cars to leave or avoid that area.

The San Bruno police department, in response to people who believed officers were being lenient, reaffirmed: “There is legislation in the works that will allow officers to issue the company notices.”

My guy these cars went on the road EIGHT FUCKING YEARS AGO

The big invasion of Ukraine was years in the future, Covid hadn't happened and wasn't going to any time soon, Obama had just stepped down, CALIFORNIA EXPLAIN

[–] GrabtharsHammer@lemmy.world 178 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Dude, you can't just penalize a corporation. That would be commiesocialism or something.

[–] Mobiuthuselah@mander.xyz 55 points 1 week ago (2 children)

According to the government, "Corporations are people too."

[–] Inucune@lemmy.world 32 points 1 week ago (2 children)

I'll believe a corporation is a person when The Texas department of corrections executes one.

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[–] rafoix@lemmy.zip 13 points 1 week ago (5 children)

And just like real people. They’re dead when they have no more money.

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[–] PhilipTheBucket@piefed.social 15 points 1 week ago (1 children)

You wouldn't molotovcocktail a car (just because it's putting everyone's safety at risk simply by existing)

[–] crank0271@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago

Surely there is a leftist or unhoused person that could be scapegoated and punished for this.

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[–] RobotToaster@mander.xyz 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)

“Since there was no human driver, a ticket couldn’t be issued (our citation books don’t have a box for “robot”),” reads the post.

Did nobody think to just write "waymo" and use the company HQ as the driver's address?

[–] Whostosay@sh.itjust.works 8 points 1 week ago

Better yet, ask the waymo car for a drivers license. None present? Impound.

[–] SkyezOpen@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (5 children)

Just tell the cops they're allowed to stab the tires and have it towed. The problem will fix itself one way or another.

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[–] deathbird@mander.xyz 102 points 1 week ago (3 children)

Just impound the vehicle when the driver refuses to sign, or rip the axle out.

You know, like if it had a human owner.

[–] jaybone@lemmy.zip 54 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Corporations are people right. So why aren’t they sent all these tickets.

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[–] SCmSTR@lemmy.blahaj.zone 25 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Honestly, should just impound all of the fleet immediately.

If the goal of the ticket is to stop the danger and enforce compliance, it has to be to the company via the entire fleet, and it must hurt them financially enough to immediately change the behavior.

[–] bizzle@lemmy.world 6 points 1 week ago

Tickets have never been about stopping danger, they are a fundraiser.

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[–] captain_aggravated@sh.itjust.works 60 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Aircraft must have pilots in command.

Radio stations must have control operators.

Pedestrian manglers can just roam free!

[–] slaneesh_is_right@lemmy.org 29 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Even a train, the thing that runs on rails has operators

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[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 52 points 1 week ago (1 children)

The entire reason they’re deploying AI in the battlefields is to avoid accountability for those firing. The lack of accountability is an intended feature, not a bug.

[–] bigbabybilly@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (1 children)

A troubling conclusion I hadn’t yet come to. God damn.

[–] surph_ninja@lemmy.world 11 points 1 week ago (1 children)

They’re not being subtle about it. The weapons companies are offering it as a selling point at the conventions.

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[–] A_norny_mousse@feddit.org 48 points 1 week ago (3 children)

It really doesn't take much intelligence to figure out who needs to get the ticket for that.

[–] FlashMobOfOne@lemmy.world 17 points 1 week ago (2 children)

Spoken like someone who hasn't had to interact with American law enforcement much.

[–] village604@adultswim.fan 14 points 1 week ago

Being intelligent is quite literally a disqualifying characteristic.

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[–] dan1101@lemmy.world 10 points 1 week ago (1 children)

Follow the money. Who owns the car?

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[–] Voroxpete@sh.itjust.works 9 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (4 children)

It's not a question of what feels right, it's a question of what the law actually says. I'm pretty sure most of us are actually not all that fond of the idea of cops making up or creatively reinterpreting the law to suit their own whims, so I don't see why we should suddenly be cheering for it now.

If the law isn't written in such a way as to be able to apply to driverless vehicles, that's a problem that lawmakers need to correct.

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[–] Sam_Bass@lemmy.world 47 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

Ticket the damn manufacturer. They need to be made to understand not to put substandard devices into public hands

[–] FuckFascism@lemmy.world 16 points 1 week ago (1 children)
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[–] PDFuego@lemmy.world 41 points 1 week ago (8 children)

I can see rego plates in the picture, are they not linked to anyone? Ticket the owner, it's not rocket science.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago

And boot it to prevent repeat offense.

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[–] rumba@lemmy.zip 28 points 1 week ago

Easy, Just impound it. When they have to deal with going to get them in person, they'll stop the illegal shit

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 25 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

These things make illegal left turns across double yellows and even opposing left turn lanes. They will literally stop in the middle of the road and block traffic to make the turn, instead of pulling up to the nearest center lane/left turn lane. I report it every time through the Waymo app but they keep doing it regardless.

It's at the point where I have to carefully plan my route to prevent the car from making stupid illegal moves. But even with the mistakes I still trust them more than I do a human driver. They just need more refinement, but Google doesn't seem to actually give a fuck about my feedback.

That said, at least they actually go to the pickup marker I set and wait patiently for me to arrive, unlike Uber/Lyft drivers who ignore your pickup spot, and then immediately cancel the ride when they don't see me because they went to the wrong pickup spot!

[–] Cassa@lemmy.blahaj.zone 12 points 1 week ago (2 children)

why in the world would you trust this thing more than a human driver? Like do you feel it's more predictable or smth?

[–] Tower@lemmy.zip 9 points 1 week ago

I used to work there, and I'm in the same boat as !Psythik@lemmy.world. I've got over 10k miles behind the wheel (most from the early days when the software sometimes felt like it was actively trying to kill you) and even with all the stupid shit they still do, I trust it more than 95% of the people on the road. It doesn't have an ego and drive angry, it doesn't get distracted by a phone, etc.

Granted, driving near them can be rough, as they're programmed to follow the laws. And since most people don't, it can be a bit jarring as it's not what you expect from other cars.

[–] Psythik@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Because I've been on over 50 rides totalling nearly 1000 miles, so I know what to expect. They're very consistent and very cautious; the radar sees everything (you can see what it sees on a screen), even once avoided an accident I would have never seen coming.

Like I said, the kinks have to be worked out, but they're still 10x safer than any human driver IMO. I'll take a Waymo any day over an Uber/Lyft driver. The best part is you don't have to tip! Hell, you don't even have to talk to anybody, because there's nobody to talk to! All of my rides are blissfully silent.

[–] jacksilver@lemmy.world 24 points 1 week ago

What is this "Airbud" rules.

Cant give it a ticket cause my ticket book doesn't say anything about "robots" breaking laws.

[–] ICastFist@programming.dev 24 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (2 children)

Doesn't the car have an owner? Because in Brazil, the ticket always goes to the owner, even when someone else is driving - something that has its share of problems

[–] DragonTypeWyvern@midwest.social 11 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

That's how a lot of US states do it for speed cameras.

Just realized I'm not sure if the same happens when you get pulled over or are driving a rental but in general the idea fixes more problems than it causes.

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[–] TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago) (1 children)

You know, we should re-assess many assumptions in light of emerging technologies. Even the conceptual value of labour is becoming more and more obsolete as AI and automation comes. We need a new Marx in relation to data as leverage to demand social equity, as in advocate for universal basic income/utility. Tech barons stole our data to train AI and automation, it's only right we bear fruit from our personal information.

[–] badgermurphy@lemmy.world 9 points 1 week ago (29 children)

Be careful what you wish for. UBI assumes a small group in power will, while having all the resources in their hands, fairly distribute them to everyone and never use them as a bargaining chip to force our compliance with whatever actions they're trying to take.

The whole UBI idea seems like a trap for the general public to accept the notion that it inevitable that a small oligarchic group must have all the resources consolidated to them, to stop us from working towards a true egalitarian economy.

There is no time I am aware of in history where a large group in power distributed vast resources to the community without being compelled to do so by threat of force.

[–] Lemminary@lemmy.world 7 points 1 week ago (2 children)

That sounds concerning, but how is it different from regular taxes to collect & distribute the funds?

I mean, besides the obvious push from them to reduce taxes to 0% as they already do in the States.

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[–] Strider@lemmy.world 15 points 1 week ago

Surprised Pikachu!

Prepare to run people over!

[–] toiletobserver@lemmy.world 14 points 1 week ago

May a firefighter tear the cars in half using the jaws of life.

You have 30 minutes to move your cube.

[–] minorkeys@lemmy.world 13 points 1 week ago

How did you make these legal and not put in place a process for this? Absolutely corrupt incompetence.

[–] finitebanjo@lemmy.world 12 points 1 week ago (5 children)
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[–] Kazumara@discuss.tchncs.de 8 points 1 week ago (1 children)

I wonder, if they hinder the car enough, wouldn't that cause the remote operator to connect to it? Sounds like you've now identified a driver :-)

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[–] _stranger_@lemmy.world 8 points 1 week ago* (last edited 1 week ago)

Shut it down and impound it? It's a fucking piece of MALFUNCTIONAL equipment, SHUT IT DOWN.

[–] PacMan@sh.itjust.works 6 points 1 week ago

It’s easy just tow it!!! Let god sort it out because the tech is not there yet

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