Google self-driving car pulled over by cops

A police officer pulled over a driverless vehicle Thursday afternoon in Mountain View after the vehicle appeared to be causing a backup on a busy Mountain View street, police said Friday.

The officer noticed traffic on El Camino Real near Rengstorff Avenue was backing up behind a slow moving car, which was traveling at 24 miles per hour in a 35 miles per hour zone, according to police.

As the officer approached the vehicle, the officer realized the vehicle was a Google self-driving car, police said.

The officer stopped the vehicle and spoke with its operators, letting them know they were impeding traffic, according to police.

According to the DMV, driverless cars can only be operated on roadways with speed limits at or under 35 miles per hour, police said.

The officer determined that in this case the car was legally allowed to travel on El Camino Real, which is rated at 35 miles per hour in that area.

The Google Self-Driving Car Project said in a Google Plus post Thursday afternoon:

“We’ve capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25mph for safety reasons. We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets. … After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that’s the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we’re proud to say we’ve never been ticketed!”

Officers meet regularly with Google to ensure that their vehicles operate safely throughout the community, according to police.

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