Sign up to see the future, today Can’t-miss innovations from the bleeding edge of science and tech Autonomous vehicles have an accountability problem. Because there’s no driver, there’s nobody to hold liable when the car misbehaves. This means that when a Waymo blocks an ambulance on its way to an emergency, or a Tesla robotaxi speeds past a stopped school bus, traffic authorities have no recourse to impose a penalty. For years, this created a bifurcated system where for-profit companies could break traffic laws that would land individuals in hot water, though that may not be the case much longer. In California, at least, the Department of Motor Vehicles has now ruled that AVs are no longer exempt from traffic citations, which could have huge implications for the companies pumping city streets full of self-driving cars. Per the San Francisco Standard, the first-of-its-kind regulation likewise mandates that AVs comply with emergency personnel within 30 seconds of being given an instruction, under penalty of having their permits suspended. Ideally, regulators hope the new directive will prevent …