When Waymo’s robot axle began occupying a 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 that had parked there for Giants games, White thought the Waymo vehicles could be the perfect neighbor.
“Until they started honking,” he said.
For the past two weeks, White and his neighbors have heard frequent honking at all hours from the Waymo lot, often waking him up in the middle of the night as the cars beep at each other — a seemingly useless warning like one unmanned vehicle honking at another.
“At first I actually thought it was really funny, these cars honking at each other,” said White, 57. “I don’t think it’s funny anymore.”
“There’s nobody for me to go down there and have a conversation with because they’re a robo-taxi,” he said. “That’s the most frustrating thing, you’re just screaming into the void.”
White, who lives in San Francisco’s South of Market, or SoMa, neighborhood, said he has reached out to Waymo and asked them to address the situation, but has yet to hear back.
The company, in response to an inquiry from The Times, said it was “aware that in some scenarios our vehicles may briefly honk while navigating our parking lots.”
“We have identified the cause and are in the process of implementing a remedy,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement.
White hopes the issue is resolved, but he was a bit upset by the company’s use of “short” to describe the honking.
“If brief means several times a day, all hours of the day,” White said. “It’s not short.”
White wanted to make it clear that he is a supporter of Waymo, having used the service several times. He even noted that as a long-time bicycle commuter, he has found them to be a much safer road follower than human drivers.
But he believes there must be a bug that causes repeated honking in a parking lot with only automated vehicles.
“I was happy to see Waymos come in,” White said. “But this aspect of it, I’m not a fan.”