Google’s driverless Toyota Prius.

In a continuing attempt to curry favor with state and federal officials, Google apparently brought it’s driverless car—a Toyota Prius—to D.C. last week, reported U.S. News & World Report:

Experts have speculated that Google may have been taking lawmakers for a ride in the Prius, which was spotted Tuesday in Northwest and Northeast D.C., but officials for the House Committee on Science, Space, and Technology said they had no knowledge of Google’s plans. Several E-mails to Google were unreturned.

“If I was to guess, they would be giving free rides to impress policymakers,” Anthony Park, a research scientist and writer for Driverless Car HQ, a site that follows the industry, wrote in an E-mail.

Nevada recently licensed Google to let the car drive itself around the state, though someone else has to be in the car while it does so.

Though the car was spotted and even photographed, Google has remained mum on why it brought the self-driving car to D.C. We put in a call to Google’s D.C. office today, but no one picked up—they apparently haven’t yet designed a robot receptionist.

At this point, there’s probably a witty joke to be made about Maryland and Virginia drivers, but we’ll leave it to the commenters to do so.

UPDATE, 2:05 p.m.: Councilmember Mary Cheh (D-Ward 3) will be taking a spin in Google’s driverless car tomorrow, her office tells us. Cheh chairs the D.C. Council’s Transportation Committee.