"According to Bryant Walker Smith, an assistant professor in the School of Law at the University of South Carolina and an expert on the law of self-driving vehicles, California law allows Google to test its cars on public roads, provided there is a human operator. And so in the event the car is pulled over for a violation and a ticket is issued, the person who Google (or the responsible company) has designated as the operator would be responsible for the ticket, Smith said."
The Center for Internet and Society at Stanford Law School is a leader in the study of the law and policy around the Internet and other emerging technologies.