"“Roll back a few years, and public service commissions, taxicab (regulators), police and airport authorities were saying to Uber: ‘Stop doing what you’re doing; it’s unlawful,’” said Bryant Walker Smith, a law professor at the University of South Carolina and expert on self-driving cars. “Sometimes it complied but often it did not.” Ultimately many jurisdictions ended up legalizing ride-hailing services.
But this case is more extreme. California has several remedies, Smith said. “There are ways an agency could use existing law to make life difficult for a company that’s not playing ball,” he said. The DMV could seek a court injunction forcing Uber to stop the test, for instance. It could revoke the cars’ vehicle registrations. The Highway Patrol could ticket the cars’ drivers for reckless driving or driving with unsafe equipments. The DMV letter said legal action against Uber could include “seeking injunctive relief.”"
- Date Published:12/14/2016
- Original Publication:SFGate