[kissickas]

Is that required by law? FTA '"We've capped the speed of our prototype vehicles at 25 mph for safety reasons," the post explained. "We want them to feel friendly and approachable, rather than zooming scarily through neighborhood streets."'

Sounds like Google's decision to me. Either way, it's not a highway, so that section seems irrelevant. And "in compliance with the law" is quite a broad redirect.

[rgbrenner]

Yes, it's by (federal) law... specifically Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standard 500

http://www.nhtsa.gov/cars/rules/rulings/lsv/lsv.html

Vehicles under 3000lbs and with a max speed of 20-25mph (like golf carts) do not have to meet the safety requirements of passenger vehicles.

This wikipedia page sums up the situation pretty well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Neighborhood_Electric_Vehicle

[evgen]

Nice circular reasoning there. Google chooses not to meet the safety requirements that are imposed on regular vehicles. Because Google makes this choice you posit that the law is forcing it to limit the speed. I think you have causality backwards here.

There are similar laws preventing mopeds and other motor-driven bicycles from entering highways; the laws prevent the vehicle from maintaining highway speeds and therefore they are forbidden from entering the highway.

[DrScump]

You're confusing highway with freeway.

A highway, as defined in the CVC, is the generic term for any public road on which the Vehicle Code applies, even if it's one lane each way: '360. “Highway” is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.'

As for the speed limiter, a 25 MPH hard limit is ridiculous unless they were limiting usage to streets with a 25MPH limit.

[deathanatos]

> Either way, it's not a highway, so that section seems irrelevant.

(IANAL) "Highway" means road or street[1]:

> 360. "Highway" is a way or place of whatever nature, publicly maintained and open to the use of the public for purposes of vehicular travel. Highway includes street.

(I've never actually heard highway used in common speech that way; only in the vehicle code, but that I think is what would count here.) The article also seems to indicate this was El Camino Real, which is also CA State Route 82.

[1]: https://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/detail/pubs/vctop/vc/d1/36...

It should also be here[2], but that page is blank for some odd reason.

[2]: https://leginfo.legislature.ca.gov/faces/codes_displayexpand...

[DonHopkins]

According to Woody Guthrie's fairly common usage of the term, you can walk on a highway in the United States of America, and nobody living can ever make you turn back or stop you. [1]

[1] https://www.woodyguthrie.org/Lyrics/This_Land.htm

[DrScump]

loads fine for me.

at first, I thought maybe you had the old link (it moved last year, but they left the old one up, broken)