Automated vehicle caused traffic jam while travelling at just 24mph in a 35mph zone, causing police to pull the car over

They’ve driven 1.2m miles, and haven’t managed to get a speeding ticket yet – but a self-driving Google car got in trouble with the law on Thursday.



The car was stopped by a Mountain View traffic officer on the El Camino Real, a public road near Google’s main campus in California, not for breaking the speed limit or erratic driving, but for travelling 24mph in a 35mph zone and causing a big queue of traffic.

Impeding traffic is an offence under California’s minimum speed law, which states: “No person shall drive upon a highway at such a slow speed as to impede or block the normal and reasonable movement of traffic, unless the reduced speed is necessary for safe operation, because of a grade, or in compliance with law.”

Mountain View police department said: “The officer stopped the car and made contact with the operators to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic.”

Google’s self-driving pod vehicles are allowed to drive on public roads within California, but only within 35mph speed zones. Google has capped the speed of its vehicles to 25mph for “safety reasons”.

“In this case, it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph,” said Mountain View police department. “The Mountain View police department meets regularly with Google to ensure that their vehicles operate safely in our community.”

Several of Google’s self-driving cars have been involved in traffic collisions, although none have been found to be to blame for the incidents. Of the 14 accidents, 11 have been rear-end shunts where the Google vehicles have been shunted by following cars, according to the company.