SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) -- Under a new California law, cars without a human driver behind the wheel will no longer get a free pass for making traffic violations. The law, which goes into effect in the summer of 2026, will allow law enforcement officers who observe traffic violations to issue citations against the offending autonomous vehicle. AV companies, such as Waymo and Cruise, will be required to report all citations and tickets to the California Department of Motor Vehicles. With enough data from citations, the DMV can better track vehicle safety and adjust permit operations, according to Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco). If a company racks up enough citations, it could lose its DMV permit to deploy vehicles on roadways. AB 1777 was authored by Ting and signed by Governor Gavin Newsom into law on Friday. The new law also gives firefighters and police officers geofencing tools aimed at preventing AV cars from driving through yellow caution tape and into emergency scenes. Ting's office wrote, "AB 1777 is a direct response to issues experienced in San Francisco. In San Francisco, incidents include disrupting traffic, rolling over, then dragging a pedestrian, impeding firefighting response at multiple scenes and driving into crime scenes." The new law: Authorizes law enforcement officers to issue "notices of autonomous vehicle noncompliance" traffic citations upon observing a vehicle code violation or local traffic ordinance. Requires the operating company to alert the DMV about traffic citations within 72 hours. Requires a dedicated telephone line that is available for emergency response officials, and equip each vehicle with a 2-way voice communication device that enables emergency response officials that are near the vehicle to communicate with a remote human operator. Authorizes an emergency response official to issue a geofencing message would require a company to direct its fleet to leave or avoid the area identified within two minutes of receiving a message. “Permitted companies recently logged a record nine million test miles during a one year period. It’s clear that AVs will be soon be commonplace, and California needs to get ahead of that to ensure safety for all on our streets," Ting said. “The San Francisco Fire Department is grateful for Assemblymember Ting’s hard work on Assembly Bill 1777 and the critical first steps it takes to improve interactions between autonomous vehicles and first responders," said Darius Luttropp, Deputy Chief of Operations for the San Francisco Fire Department. Traffic incidents involving AV vehicles have caused confusion, hazards, and injuries on city streets. Most recently, a motorcade escorting Vice President Kamala Harris around San Francisco reportedly encountered a driverless Waymo car that stopped in the middle of California Street on Friday. A police officer was eventually able to get inside the Waymo and drive it out of the motorcade's path, according to reports. On Monday, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration ordered General Motors’ Cruise to pay a $1.5 million penalty after the company failed to fully report a crash involving an AV car dragging a pedestrian. The pedestrian suffered life-threatening injuries in the Oct. 2, 2023 crash, and the DMV revoked Cruise's license.