Assemblyman Tri Ta has introduced Assembly Bill 2193, a proposal aimed at giving law enforcement the authority to issue citations to companies operating fully autonomous vehicle passenger transport services when their vehicles violate California traffic laws.
Currently, when a human driver fails to stop at a stop sign or commits another infraction, that individual can be cited by police. In contrast, there is no designated “driver” in an autonomous vehicle, which makes it difficult for officers to assign responsibility for traffic violations. AB 2193 would address this gap by treating the owner of the autonomous vehicle as the responsible party, making the company accountable for any infractions committed by its vehicles.
There have been incidents involving driverless vehicles performing illegal maneuvers such as U-turns, parking violations, and running red lights. In one case in San Bruno, a driverless taxi executed an illegal U-turn but could not be ticketed because citation forms do not accommodate non-human drivers. Police did inform the company involved about the incident.
“AB 2193 strikes a balance between providing a service to our residents while ensuring public safety,” stated Ta. “This bill would treat driverless cars as if there were a real person behind the wheel. If any other driver breaks our traffic laws, they get a ticket.”