How California's new regulations will affect autonomous vehicles In California cities like San Francisco and Los Angeles, autonomous vehicles have operated under a different set of rules for the past few years compared to their human-operated counterparts. Although these driverless taxis were susceptible to citations from local law enforcement, laxity in autonomous vehicle regulations left California law enforcement puzzled about how to address vehicles that violated the state's road laws. That is set to change later this year, as the California Department of Motor Vehicles announced on April 29 that law enforcement agencies will now be allowed to issue tickets to autonomous vehicle companies for violations of the rules of the road. These changes are set to take effect on July 1 and stem from Assembly Bill 1777, authored by former California State Assemblyman Philip Ting. The law, passed in 2024, aimed to provide additional oversight of autonomous vehicles under California law and to address safety concerns related to malfunctions in major cities. “AB 1777 is a direct response to issues experienced in San Francisco. In San Francisco, incidents include disrupting traffic, rolling over, then dragging a pedestrian, impeding firefighting response at multiple scenes and driving into crime scenes,” Ting's office said in 2024 after the law passed. When autonomous vehicle companies like Waymo first deployed their robotaxis on the streets of San Francisco, laws governing the new mode of transportation were sparse, as the city served as a testing ground for these robotaxis. But since deployment to the general public in major cities, Waymo's self-driving cars have caused a number of reported incidents, including vehicles stalling in the middle of San Francisco streets after a major power outage in late 2025 and blocking first responders from reaching a mass shooting incident in Austin on March 1. These issues reportedly