Last week, something unusual happened in San Bruno, California. Police officers stopped a car. But the car had no driver inside.

The car is called a Waymo. It is a driverless car. This means the car drives itself. There is no person behind the wheel.

The police stopped the car because it made an illegal U-turn. A U-turn is when a car turns around. The car made this turn at a traffic light. This is against the law.

The police were doing a special operation that day. They were looking for drunk drivers. Then they saw the Waymo make the illegal turn.

An officer looked into the car. The car was empty. There was no driver to talk to.

The police wrote about this on social media on Saturday. They said they could not give the car a ticket. Their ticket books do not have a box for “robot.” The police need to give tickets to people, not to cars.

The police told the Waymo company about the problem. The company needs to fix the car’s computer program. Then the car will not make illegal turns again.

Waymo is a company that makes driverless cars. The company sent a statement to the newspaper. The statement said: “Our driving system is designed to respect the rules of the road.” This means the car should follow traffic laws.

Waymo also said: “We are looking into this situation. We are committed to improving road safety.” This means they want to make their cars safer.

Right now, police cannot give tickets to driverless cars. But this will change soon. Last year, the governor of California signed a new law. The governor’s name is Gavin Newsom.

The new law will start in July 2026. After that date, police can give a “notice of noncompliance” to driverless car companies. This is a special type of ticket for companies, not for people.

The law also says companies must have a special phone line. First responders can call this number. First responders are police officers, firefighters, and ambulance workers.

A man named Phil Ting introduced this law. He works in the California government. He is from San Francisco.

Phil Ting made this law because of problems in San Francisco. Driverless cars have caused many problems there. The cars have blocked traffic. One car dragged a pedestrian. A pedestrian is a person walking on the street. The cars have also blocked firetrucks. Some cars have driven into crime scenes.

The new law gives first responders more power. They can order a company to move its driverless cars. The company must move the cars away from an area. The company has two minutes to do this.

Some people thought the police were too easy on the Waymo car. The San Bruno police answered these people. The police said: “There is legislation in the works. This will allow officers to issue notices to companies.” Legislation means new laws.

Waymo started in 2009. It began as a project at Google. Google has a research lab called X. The project started there.

Waymo cars use cameras and sensors to drive. Cameras take pictures of the road. Sensors help the car understand what is around it. The car’s computer uses this information to drive.

Waymo has had problems before. Earlier this year, the company recalled more than 1,200 cars. Recall means the company had to fix the cars. The cars had a software problem. Software is the computer program that runs the car.

The problem made the cars hit things. The cars hit chains and gates. They hit other barriers on the road. A barrier is something that blocks the way.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is a government agency. It checks if cars are safe. Last year, this agency started an investigation. An investigation means they looked carefully at Waymo.

The agency received 22 reports about Waymo cars. The reports said the cars were acting strangely. The cars were breaking traffic safety laws.

This story shows a new problem for police. What do you do when a robot breaks the law? Police need new rules for driverless cars. The new law in 2026 will help with this problem.