Self-Driving Cars Irritate Locals Because They Won't Stop Honking, Until Tech Company Implements Fix

Mar. 15, 2025

Waymo vehicles.Photo:waymo

waymo

A group of self-driving cars in San Francisco were not being very kind to their neighbors earlier this month. So the company behind them says it has since implemented a fix.

The driverless cars, whichUSA Todaynotes launched as the Google Self-Driving Car Project under Alphabet and which were officially available to the public in June as a populardriverless taxi service, are known to frequent a parking lot in the city’s South of Market neighborhood during their downtime, when they aren’t making trips for locals.

A Waymo vehicle.waymo

“The robotaxis in the Waymo lot are clustered and actually honking at each other,” White, the Facebook user, captioned the initial video. “I would find it funny if it wasn’t 4 a.m.”

Another neighbor, Christopher Cherry, toldNBC Bay Areathat he was “really excited” to welcome Waymo into the neighborhood but was soon met with random daily honking noises — usually during rush hour and at 4 a.m.

“We started out with a couple of honks here and there, and then as more and more cars started to arrive, the situation got worse, " Cherry said. “It’s very distracting during the work day, but most importantly it wakes you up at four in the morning.”

After White told the outlet that the self-driving and self-honking situation was “not so funny when you’re not getting a good night’s rest,” a Waymo spokesperson explained that the company was “implementing a fix” for the parking-lot honks.

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A Waymo spokesperson tells PEOPLE now that it has “updated the software, so our electric vehicles should keep the noise down for our neighbors moving forward,” beginning on Wednesday, Aug. 14.

And while the NBC outlet noted that Waymo said an unintended result of the fix led to some additional honking in an adjacent cul-de-sac, the company told the outlet that that, too, had been addressed.

“[The feature] has been working great in the city, but we didn’t quite anticipate it would happen so often in our own parking lots,” the spokesperson tells PEOPLE.

Earlier this week, White posted on Facebook that the Waymo lot has indeed been “super quiet” in the days since the initial ruckus.

“The honking software fix is in place,” he wrote. “Nice to feel rested — and Waymo reached out today with a nice apology.”

source: people.com