California cops to write tickets for violations by robotaxis, other autonomous vehicles

New California regulations on autonomous vehicles go into effect this summer, including one allowing police to issue citations for moving violations by the driverless cars.

The California Department of Motor Vehicles said in a release that law enforcement will be able to issue a “notice of AV noncompliance” for moving violations to manufacturers of robotaxis and other autonomous vehicles. The regulation goes into effect on July 1.

The department said in a statement that after a notice is issued, it “will investigate the matter and determine what remediation, if any, is required. If the manufacturer is unable to remediate the issue, the Department may restrict, suspend, or revoke the manufacturer’s operating permit,” according to The New York Times.

The regulation closed a loophole that allowed previous moving violations by autonomous vehicles to go unpunished because there was no driver involved.

“Because autonomous vehicles do not have a human driver — and existing citations must be issued to a licensed person — the law establishes a new mechanism that allows moving violations to be issued to an autonomous vehicle manufacturer,” California Department of Motor Vehicles spokesperson Jonathan Groveman told the Los Angeles Times.

Manufacturers will also be required starting July 1 to give first responders access to manual override systems for their vehicles, establish “two-way communication links with 30-second response times” with first responders, and allow emergency response officials to tell the companies to get their vehicles out of geo-fenced areas within two minutes in case of emergency.

Officials also announced the removal of certain weight-related restrictions.

People will now be able to operate autonomous vehicles weighing more than 5 tons, thereby allowing their use in the freight industry. The vehicles will be required to stop at California Highway Patrol weigh stations, officials said.