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Nearly a year after Waymos touched down in Atlanta for the first time, residents of the community of Buckhead, Georgia have noted a massive influx of the company’s autonomous vehicles trying to forge a path through their neighborhood. The result is a massive increase in vehicle traffic — and occasional weird ritual-like scenes as the AVs circle cul-de-sacs for hours on end.
“It’s almost every little cul-de-sac in our area, so I think it’s a problem,” one neighbor told the local WSBTV. While it’d be forgivable if residents were just going hog-wild on Waymo rideshares, most of the AVs filmed by residents appear completely empty.
One clip making the rounds on social media shows numerous Waymos simultaneously roll into an otherwise deserted roundabout, circling ominously like something out of a Stephen King story. While it’s possible the algorithmically-guided vehicles are using area roundabouts to correct their direction of travel — where most humans would just pull a U-turn or look for a driveway to K-turn in— the visual effect of multiple Waymos loitering like buzzards is startling, to say the say least.
“We had, at one point, eight Waymos that were stuck trying to figure out how to turn around,” a local resident said.
In the US and Canada, most suburbs are designed to accommodate heavy traffic at arterial collector roads — it’s unusual for a road lined with houses to become major throughways.
“We would like to just see them stay on main traffic roads,” one neighbor told WSBTV. “I don’t think there’s any reason for them to be on small residential cul-de-sacs if they’re not picking up somebody.”
Residents say they’ve struggled to get any response from Waymo representatives, and requests to city council members and the Georgia Department of Transportation seem to be in limbo. However, when pressured by Atlanta reporters, Waymo issued a boilerplate statement.
“At Waymo, we are committed to being good neighbors,” it read. “We take community feedback seriously and have already addressed this routing behavior. With over 500,000 weekly trips across the country, our service is proven to significantly reduce traffic injuries and improve road safety. We value our relationship with Atlanta residents and remain focused on providing a seamless, respectful, and safe experience for riders and residents alike.”
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