- Waymo robotaxis wait in a rented San Francisco parking lot overnight when no riders are around.
- NBC Bay Area first reported the autonomous cars sometimes honk for over an hour while they park.
Waymo robotaxis are waking their San Francisco neighbors with a cacophony of overnight honking as the autonomous cars navigate the parking lot where they idle waiting for new riders.
NBC Bay Area first reported that the driverless vehicles sometimes honk at each other for about an hour at pre-dawn hours as early as 4 a.m. and during evening rush hour times.
"We started out with a couple of honks here and there, and then as more and more cars started to arrive, the situation got worse, " Christopher Cherry, who lives near the rented lot in San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood that Waymo cars park in, told NBC Bay Area.
He added: "It's very distracting during the workday, but most importantly it wakes you up at four in the morning."
Cherry, the outlet reported, has documented more than a dozen disruptive incidents of the vehicles honking at all hours of the day and night.
A spokesperson for Waymo told Business Insider that the company is "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 fix," the spokesperson told BI.
The racket has been captured in videos posted on social media, with some bemused onlookers livestreaming the comings and goings of the driverless cars.
"Honestly, it's fun to watch the cars come and go," local software engineer Sophia Tung told The Verge of her livestream of the cars, adding that "it's really just the honking that needs to be resolved."