BELOW SUPERNAV drop zone ⇩

Driverless Waymo cars still honking despite software fix

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

MAIN AREA TOP drop zone ⇩

maylen

https://digital-stage.newsnationnow.com/

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241114185800

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241115200405

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118165728

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241118184948

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Residents who live near a Waymo parking lot are experiencing an “only in San Francisco” problem.

Every day, Waymo’s driverless autonomous vehicles gather in the parking lot on 2nd and Harrison streets to park between rides and recharge. Periodically, the high-tech vehicles start honking at each other.

Residents who live in apartment buildings next door said the overnight (and early morning) honking is too loud to sleep through. Since the issue began on July 28, Waymo’s engineers have updated their software at least twice trying to fix the problem. But last weekend, the honking returned.

Resident Sophia Tung devised a tech-centric response after she was woken up around 5 a.m. by a chorus of car horns. She created a 24-hour livestream with two cameras pointed at the parking lot.

The stream, titled “LoFi Waymo Hip Hop Radio Self Driving Taxi Depot Shenanigans To Relax/Study To,” has attracted a global following. Viewers from as far away as Europe watched the parking lot stream, which began on Aug. 5.

Waymo
Waymo autonomous vehicles are parked in a staging area on June 8, 2023, in San Francisco. (Photo by Justin Sullivan / Getty Images)

“Them Waymos be wildin’ sometimes,” Tung wrote.

Tung noticed that the honking escalated when driverless cars became “bunched up” in the lot, or when a line of waiting cars backed up into the street.

Waymo Director of Product & Ops Vishay Nihalani appeared on the livestream Monday to apologize for the noise and answer questions from Tung. Nihalani explained why the company’s driverless vehicles are designed to honk in the first place.

Honking, Nihalani said, helps reduce the number of collisions between driverless vehicles and vehicles driven by distracted people.

“Our self-driving cars are designed to see 360 degrees and not be distracted, unlike human drivers, who are not always fully aware of their surroundings. Our self-driving software is designed to recognize when honking may help alert other drivers to our presence,” the company’s website states.

Honking between Waymo vehicles was an unexpected snag that will be fixed with upgraded software, according to Nihalani.

West

Copyright 2024 Nexstar Media Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed

Site Settings Survey

 

MAIN AREA MIDDLE drop zone ⇩

Trending on NewsNation

AUTO TEST CUSTOM HTML 20241119133138

MAIN AREA BOTTOM drop zone ⇩

tt

KC Chiefs parade shooting: 1 dead, 21 shot including 9 kids | Morning in America

Witness of Chiefs parade shooting describes suspect | Banfield

Kansas City Chiefs parade shooting: Mom of 2 dead, over 20 shot | Banfield

WWE star Ashley Massaro 'threatened' by board to keep quiet about alleged rape: Friend | Banfield

Friend of WWE star: Ashley Massaro 'spent hours' sobbing after alleged rape | Banfield

Sunny

la

69°F Sunny Feels like 69°
Wind
6 mph SW
Humidity
27%
Sunrise
Sunset

Tonight

Clear to partly cloudy. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
47°F Clear to partly cloudy. Low 47F. Winds light and variable.
Wind
2 mph NNE
Precip
11%
Sunset
Moon Phase
Waning Gibbous