Aug 27, 2010 15:25 GMT  ·  By

A Google Street View car was stopped and searched in France as the authorities wanted to check that Google had indeed stopped collecting Wi-Fi data as the company claimed.

This was necessary since Google started collecting imagery in the country again, before the authorities had a chance to review the new hardware setup and verify that the Wi-Fi networking hardware had indeed been removed.

Google has started sending out its Street View cars in France last Friday leading to criticism from authorities. The company said that the search was agreed to beforehand.

We’ve worked closely with the French authorities to provide Street View cars for their inspection, which they’ve now done twice to their satisfaction. As we’ve said before and as the authorities have verified, our cars are no longer collecting Wi-Fi data. We’ll continue to work with them to answer any questions they may have," Google said in a statement.

The French authorities did not reveal the results of the search. They did say that they have received enough information from Google to make a decision.

The authorities have investigated another two Street View cars. The French are the only ones to have done so, but have shared their info with other European regulators.

Google stopped all Street View cars after it realized that they had accidentally collected payload data from wireless networks, something the company had previously said it didn't do.

Following the criticism and the number of investigations in the countries involved, Google removed all wireless network hardware from the Street View cars.

However, even as investigations in many countries were not over, Google started rolling out the Street View cars again. It has done so in Germany and last week in France as well.

South Korean authorities raided Google offices recently in relation to the Street View incident. The company is still under investigation in several countries.