In the city, NEVs (Neighborhood Electric Vehicles) are legally limited to roads with speed limits below 35 mph. Google acknowledged the traffic stop in a Google+ post, and said it has "capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 mph 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," Google continued. "After 1.2 million miles of autonomous driving (that the human equivalent of 90 years of driving experience), we're proud to say we've never been ticketed!" 

 In a blog post, the MVPD said its officer stopped the car "to learn more about how the car was choosing speeds along certain roadways and to educate the operators about impeding traffic." No ticket were issued because "it was lawful for the car to be traveling on the street as El Camino Real is rated at 35 mph," the department said. "The Mountain View Police Department meets regularly with Google to ensure that their vehicles operate safely in our community," the post concluded. 

Google in December unveiled the first complete build of its autonomous vehicle, which looks something like a miniature Volkswagen Bug. Testing began six months later, when the prototype hit California roads. In addition to staying below 25 mph, the vehicles wait 1.5 seconds after the light turns green at an intersection to avoid collisions, so you certainly don't want to get stuck behind one when in a hurry. Keep an eye out for these small autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, too.