Waymo robotaxis have been operating in San Francisco for some time, quietly for the most part, so residents didn’t expect the vehicles to keep them awake at night.
For the past two weeks, however, the driverless taxis have reportedly been honking at each other at all hours.
One San Francisco resident, Randol White, told the Los Angeles Times he was often woken up in the middle of the night by taxis honking at each other in the Waymo carpark next door to his home.
Mr White told the publication he used to find the honking funny at first, but has since grown tired of the constant noise from his robotic neighbours.
Mr White was reportedly glad when the Waymo vehicles moved in next door, as he thought it would be a much easier occupant to live next to compared to the noisy crowds who used to park there for nearby sporting matches.
That was “until they started honking”, he told the LA Times. He says he’s reached out to Waymo to try and remedy the issue, but has so far heard nothing in response.
“There’s no one for me to go down there and have a conversation with, because they’re a robotaxi,” Mr White told the publication. “That’s the most frustrating thing, you’re just yelling into the void.”
Waymo said in a statement to the LA Times that it was aware some of its vehicles would “briefly” honk in carparks, and that it had “identified the cause and are in the process of implementing a fix”.
While Mr White was hoping the issue would be fixed, he told the publication he was confused by Waymo describing the honking as brief.
“If briefly means multiple times a day, at all hours of the day and night, it’s not briefly,” he said.
He told the outlet he’s a supporter of Waymo and had used the service on multiple occasions, and as a cyclist he’d found them much safer than human drivers.
It’s not the first time Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet Inc., has come under scrutiny. A recent safety probe has looked at numerous incidents involving its robotaxis, including where it has struck other vehicles.
Waymo robotaxis have also been blamed for the death of a dog and a collision with a cyclist.
Protesters have also previously torched self-driving taxis in San Francisco, as tensions flared between the local community and autonomous vehicles.
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