Angry residents in San Francisco say they are losing sleep over a parking lot full of self-driving cars that are constantly honking at each other.
California residents near 2nd and Harrison Streets in the South of Market neighborhood have observed Waymo vehicles honking their horns throughout the day in a nearby parking lot.
The dystopian video shows the cars driving around the parking lot in the middle of the night with their lights on, while randomly honking at each other.
Initially, neighbors were excited when they welcomed the robotaxis into their neighborhood a few weeks ago, but then the noises started to disturb their sleep.
“At first I thought it was actually quite funny, these cars were honking at each other,” 57-year-old resident Randol White told the Los Angeles Times“I don’t find it funny anymore.”
Video shows self-driving cars in a San Francisco neighborhood driving in circles around a parking lot and randomly beeping at each other
Resident Randol White (pictured) said he was initially excited to welcome the robotaxis, but then they started waking him up at 4 a.m.
“I was happy to see the Waymos come in, but I don’t like this aspect of it.”
White said he first became troubled by the vehicles two weeks ago when they went off around 4 a.m. He has raised his concerns with the company but is furious that there is nothing he can do to stop the cars.
“There’s no one I can go down and have a conversation with because they’re robotaxis. That’s the most frustrating part, you’re just screaming into the void,” he said.
Waymo said KGO They are aware of the problem and are working on a solution.
“We are aware that in some scenarios our vehicles may briefly honk their horns as they drive through our parking lots. We have identified the root cause and are working to implement a fix,” the company said.
Longtime resident Russell Pofsky told the local news station that in all the years he’s lived in the neighborhood, he’s never experienced anything this bad.
“In the past two weeks, I’ve woken up more times in the night than I’ve ever woken up in the past 20 years combined,” Pofsky said.
“I couldn’t be more grumpy today for a Monday after the last two weeks. It’s really high. It’s just really, really… it’s tough. It affects how you feel.”
A long-time resident said he had never experienced such a nuisance in the twenty years he had lived there
Residents indicate that the honking occurs all day long and that they also find it annoying when they are trying to work from home.
Christopher Cherry told NBC Bay Area He was “really excited” to welcome Waymo to the neighborhood, but now hopes the honking will stop.
“We started off with a few honks here and there, but as more and more cars arrived, the situation got worse,” Cherry said.
“It’s a huge distraction during the workday, but the most important thing is that it wakes you up at four in the morning.”
“We love having them here, we just wish they wouldn’t keep honking all the time at four in the morning.”