Waymo robotaxis are making their way to more American cities, but they're not always winning the hearts and minds of the people who live there.
The autonomous cars have been spotted blundering the wrong way down a street and causing traffic jams, and residents have quickly grown fed up with their obnoxious back-up noise.
They're also, apparently, haunting random locations like a conspicuous stalker. Just ask one Los Angeles couple, Lisa Delgin and Zach Tucker, who claim that ever since a Waymo cab dropped them off at their home after a New Year's Eve party, the company's robotaxis have come back to park in that exact same and totally arbitrary spot — sometimes for hours at a time, the Verge reports.
"It would always come back here, like a beacon," Delgin told the outlet. "Like it knew there was a spot here that it could take."
This isn't the only parking idiosyncrasy we've seen from Waymo's cabs. In San Francisco, bleary-eyed locals complained that the cars were gathering in tightly-packed parking lots and honking all night as they tried to bumble past each other.
Delgin and Tucker's birdwatching-like investigation of the robotaxis' behavior has revealed curious quirks. One, they confirmed by looking at the plates that it's actually several Waymos that keep coming back. The cars also use one of two highly specific locations to unwind: either right in front of their home or on the property line they share with a neighbor.
"The Waymo is home!" Morgan, the couple's 10-year-old daughter, says when a cab returns.
If both spots are taken, Delgin added in David Attenborough-esque narration, a Waymo driving by will slow down but won't attempt to stop or park anywhere else nearby. Nope: only the Delgin's property will do.
The family can take comfort in the fact that they're not alone. Another LA resident said that a Waymo frequently parks on her street and always in front of the same apartment building. The Verge said it's observed this behavior, too, and complaints from residents in different parts of LA can be found on apps like Nextdoor.
Waymo says that its vehicles will seek out places to idle as part of its programming. This way, they avoid clogging traffic, the thinking goes.
... continue reading