Google's self-driving car pulled over by California police for driving too slowly

Google keeps running into problems with its self-driving car. The truth is that the tests are quite positive, even though they have recorded some accidents and the company is still working to refine the capabilities of the car it is developing. But what it probably did not expect was to be stopped by a traffic officer during one of the tests on the roads of Burbank, California.

Apparently, Google’s self-driving car was driving on the road, during one of the tests carried out in real traffic conditions, when an officer noticed that a suspicious tailback was forming. On approaching, he saw that the self-driving car was indeed driving excessively slowly, so he proceeded to remove the car from traffic.

Google’s self-driving car has covered almost two million kilometres during the tests carried out

Google’s management reacted promptly, stating that the car did not break any traffic law and that it was travelling at a correct speed. The road it was on had a speed limit of 50 km/h, while the car has a top speed of 40 km/h, limited in this way to make it safer and project an image of safety. At this point, they say at Google, it would be unusual to see a car travelling at 100 km/h with nobody at the wheel.

In short, the car was taken off the road at that moment, and those responsible may have received a fine for driving excessively slowly, although Google has not confirmed this point. In fact, they have commented that “we have the equivalent of 90 years of driving in testing and we have never received a single ticket.”

They also doubt that a “human driver” would have been pulled over and fined for this reason. Either way, the lack of news about further incidents involving Google’s self-driving car, following the accident it had a few months ago, suggests that everything is going well and that it is moving ahead in its development.

Via | Carscoops