San Francisco residents complain of late-night honking from Waymo driverless cars

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Wednesday, August 14, 2024
Waymo shares new details on honking cars in SF after ABC7 News report
Now, we have an answer about why the Waymo robotaxis are gathering in one San Francisco parking lot and honking all night.

SAN FRANCISCO -- For the past few weeks, Randol White has been dealing with a persistent and annoying problem right outside of his San Francisco condo.

"I was like, 'where is that coming from?' And I looked down, and I was like, 'I think it's coming from the Waymo cars,'" White said.

A parking lot just outside his condo full of driverless Waymo cars has had multiple incidents where suddenly the vehicles seemingly become confused and start honking all at each other.

White says he heard it the first time about two weeks ago when he was woken up around 4 a.m.

But White isn't the only one who's had issues with the noises either.

Several people who live in buildings nearby the parking lot have had similar complaints.

"Over the past two weeks I've been woken up more times overnight than I have combined over 20 years," said Russell Pofsky.

He said the honking incidents have happened at random times during both the day and night - and have started to take a toll on him.

"I could not be more cranky today for a Monday after these past two weeks. It's really at a high level. It's just really, really... it's tough. It affects the way you feel," Pofsky said.

RELATED: Waymo cars honk at each other throughout the night, disturbing SF neighbors

The company says the honking is happening because of software meant to prevent slow-moving crashes.

For example, if someone is slowly backing out of a parking spot and doesn't see you, you'd honk if they got too close.

Put a handful of Waymos in a parking lot and that's what you get.

The company says it's adjusting the software.