California Closed The Loophole That Made Robotaxis Immune To Traffic Tickets
California ends “citation immunity” for robotaxis starting July 1. First responders gain 30-second access plus emergency geofencing. Heavy trucks over 10,001 lbs are now cleared for autonomous testing. California’s autonomous vehicle industry has spent years operating under a regulatory framework that, in practice, treated its products as exempt from the rules everyone else has to follow. That ends now. The California Department of Motor Vehicles has formally adopted a new framework allowing officers to ticket robotaxis, while simultaneously opening the state’s highways to heavy-duty autonomous trucks under tight conditions. The loophole was always faintly absurd. Traffic citations are written to whoever is sitting behind the wheel. When no one is, officers had no mechanism to enforce the rules. Assembly Bill 1777 first published on September 27, 2024, closes the gap on July 1. The Power To Cite The most significant change comes from defining how police interact wit...