When Waymo’s robotaxis began occupying the parking lot next to Randol White’s San Francisco apartment building, he was initially excited to see the self-driving cars.
Compared to the sometimes rowdy crowds parked there to watch Giants games, White thinks Waymo vehicles could be perfect neighbors.
“Until they started honking,” he said.
Over the past two weeks, White and his neighbors have been hearing horns blaring from the Waymo parking lot at all times, often waking him up in the middle of the night as cars honking at each other — an alarm that, as a self-driving car, would seem to make no difference. Worthless honking at another.
“I actually thought it was funny at first, these cars honking at each other,” White, 57, said. “I don’t think it’s funny anymore.”
“I don’t have anyone to go out there and talk to them because they’re a robotaxi,” he said. “That’s the most frustrating thing, you’re just yelling into the void.”
White, who lives in San Francisco’s South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood, said he has reached out to Waymo asking them to resolve the issue but has yet to receive a response.
In response to an inquiry from The Times, the company said it was “aware that under certain circumstances, our vehicles may honk briefly while driving in parking lots.”
“We have determined the cause and are implementing fixes,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement.
White hopes the issue can be resolved, but he’s a little uncomfortable with the company’s use of “ephemeral” to describe the horn sound.
“Ephemeral means multiple times a day, day and night,” White said. “This is not short-lived.”
White wanted to make it clear that he is a Waymo supporter and has used the service multiple times. He even noted that as a long-time bike commuter, he found bikes to be safer than human drivers.
But he believes there must be a glitch that causes the parking lot with only self-driving cars to sound its horn repeatedly.
“I’m excited to see Waymos coming in,” White said. “But in this aspect, I don’t like it.”
