Angelenos are quite familiar with the looming threat of a parking ticket.
Between street cleanings, meter time-outs, and baffling parking signs, it’s no wonder that over 700,000 tickets have already been issued in 2025.
And even driverless cars aren’t immune.
Yes, even Waymos, the driverless taxi cars regularly seen cruising through the city, have been spotted with parking tickets.
But since there’s no one in the driver’s seat, who pays them?
Reddit user Clyronq recently posed the question in the Los Angeles subreddit.
“Why would parking enforcement ticket a driver-less car? In this picture, the car was driving and clearly has no idea that a ticket is on the windshield,” the caption reads.
“Good,” replied one user. “It should be Waymo aware of the parking rules like the rest of us.”
The Washington Post reports that Waymo received 75 parking tickets in Los Angeles last year – and the company does indeed pay them. In San Francisco, Waymo racked up almost 600 parking tickets and was fined over $65,000.
When officers ticket parking violations for driverless cars, the citation is linked to the car, not the driver, and the company that owns the vehicle is held responsible. Waymo confirmed that they pay the tickets, and spokesperson Ethan Teicher said they’re working to upgrade the cars “to better avoid parking citations.”
Driverless cars cannot, however, receive moving traffic violations, which include running red lights, blocking emergency responders, and swerving into construction zones. In 2023, San Francisco Police received a memo from their police chief acknowledging that “no citation for a moving violation can be issued if the [autonomous vehicle] is being operated in a driverless mode,” reports NBC Bay Area.