Robotaxi company Waymo stops parking lot honking – Netzwelt – Rhein-Zeitung

Disturbance of the peace at night

By dpa

August 14, 2024, 08:40

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A driverless robotaxi from Google’s sister company Waymo is on the road. (to dpa: “Robotaxi company Waymo stops parking lot honking”) Photo: Andrej Sokolow/DPA

When Waymo robotaxis took over a new parking lot in San Francisco, residents were suddenly plagued by a concert of honking. An actually helpful function had unexpected side effects.

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The trigger was a new function in which the self-driving cars honk when someone reverses towards them at a slow speed. This worked excellently in the city, but Waymo did not expect the situation to occur frequently in its own parking lot, a spokesperson told the technology blog “The Verge”. The software update will restore calm.

In recent days, a local resident had set up a live stream from the parking lot rented by Waymo and added music to the honking noises. Some of the cars had returned to the parking lot from nighttime operations as of 4 a.m., she reported. Her videos show the driverless robot taxis reversing in the parking lot while cornering and getting closer to the cars behind them, which honk at them.

Waymo offers rides in robotaxis without a human at the wheel in several US cities; in San Francisco, the service is already available without a waiting list.

In recent years, some city authorities and transport companies have complained that the vehicles sometimes block the streets, but generally the vehicles travel without problems.