Google self-driving car pulled over for going too slow

A Google self-driving car in Mountain View, California, was pulled over Thursday afternoon for going 24 mph in a 35 mph zone.

A bystander posted a photo of the traffic stop on Facebook, which was shared by Google Self-Driving Car Project on Google+. The vehicle was not ticketed.

The Mountain View Police Department confirmed the traffic stop, stating that:

“This afternoon a Mountain View Police Department traffic officer noticed traffic backing up behind a slow moving car.

“The car was traveling at 24 mph in a 35 mph zone. As the officer approached the slow moving car he realized it was a Google Autonomous Vehicle. 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.

“In this case, it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph.

“The Mountain View Police Department meets regularly with Google to ensure that their vehicles operate safely in our community.”

Google also released the following statement:

“Driving too slowly? Bet humans don’t get pulled over for that too often.

“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.  

“Like this officer, people sometimes flag us down when they want to know more about our project. 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!”