Driverless Cars Are Enraging San Francisco Residents With Relentless Early-AM Honking
San Francisco residents are sounding the alarm about a fleet of driverless cars rudely interrupting their sleeping schedules.
People living in the South of Market neighborhood have major complaints about the autonomous driving company Waymo, whose robotaxis have been relentlessly honking at each other as they return themselves to a local parking lot during the early-morning hours.
In video captured by residents, car horns blare while self-driving vehicles file into the rooftop lot and back into their spots, appearing to trigger the other automobiles’ alarms.
Randol White, a neighbor, told NBC Bay Area the honking routinely wakes him up around 4 a.m.
“I look down and I’m convinced now: It is coming from the Waymos,” said White.
Following news reports about the din, Waymo said the issue is with software meant to prevent slow-moving crashes.
NEWS: San Francisco South of Market residents are woken up each morning at 4 AM by a bunch of Waymos honking at each other 😂 pic.twitter.com/IsSvjOLAfk
— ALEX (@ajtourville) August 13, 2024
In a statement, the company told The New York Times: “It has been working great in the city, but we didn’t quite anticipate it would happen so often in our own parking lots.”
“We’ve updated the software, so our electric vehicles should keep the noise down for our neighbors moving forward,” the company said.
While the honking problem may soon be resolved, local activists have been pushing for a ban on autonomous vehicles altogether.
In February, safety advocates rallied in San Francisco’s Chinatown area to demand that California Gov. Gavin Newsom (D) ban driverless cars.
“We need to have the oversight,” said activist Edward Escobar, according to NBC Bay Area. “We are not guinea pigs here in California. We are not guinea pigs here in San Francisco. We are not guinea pigs in the Bay Area.”
For now, it seems vehicles from Waymo ― and from Amazon’s driverless car subsidiary, Zoox ― will still be roaming around the city for the foreseeable future. However, last fall, the California Department of Motor Vehicles suspended the operating permit of the General Motors-owned robotaxi outfit Cruise, after several high-profile traffic accidents.
