After continued complaints from San Francisco residents about Waymo's driverless vehicles honking their horns in the middle of the night, the company said it has now issued fixes that should stop the noise.
NBC Bay Area first reported on this story Saturday when neighbors spoke with us about repeated honking coming from Waymo vehicles in a lot next to their buildings in the South of Market neighborhood near 2nd Street. The neighbors said this honking happened daily, with periods of "peak honk" occurring at 4:00 in the morning when most were trying to sleep. On videos captured by residents, the autonomous vehicles could be spotted trying to back out of or into parking spots, then honking when they got near other vehicles.
By Tuesday, a Waymo spokesperson told NBC Bay Area that the company had implemented a fix.
"We've updated the software, so our electric vehicles should keep the noise down for our neighbors moving forward," the spokesperson said Tuesday.
However, neighbors did report being awoken by honking early Wednesday morning. Video from the YouTube livestream of neighbor Sophia Tung shows six Waymo vehicles filing into an adjacent street at 4:34 a.m., then appearing to get stuck as they reach the end of the street.
Waymo told us that while it stopped its vehicles from honking inside the parking lot, an unintended consequence of that fix led its vehicles to the adjacent cul-de-sac where they repeatedly honked. A new fix has been issued which should stop this unintended consequence, Waymo said on Wednesday.
The Waymo spokesperson explained that all these issues were tied to a new feature Waymo first launched in January "to help avoid low speed collisions by honking if other cars get too close while reversing toward us."
"It has been working great in the city, but we didn't quite anticipate it would happen so often in our own parking lots," the spokesperson said of the honking.
Many customers are still just learning about this feature, Waymo's Chief Product Officer recently posted to explain one user's question about why their vehicle honked.
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"It's like a wait-and-see right now, let's find out whether there's another night of honking, and if there is, what the solution or the fix will be this time around," said Randol White, a resident in one of the nearby buildings.
White is a Waymo customer and is not opposed to the vehicles, he is just ready to get a continuous night of sleep without repeated honking.
"San Francisco and the Bay Area, we are a hotbed of innovation and we try new things, and that's why we lead the world and the country when it comes to tech options and that sort of thing," White said.
"This is a hiccup, it's an annoyance," he continued.
Waymo has issued apologies to the neighbors on social media and the company has contacted a nearby homeowners' association about providing sweet treats to residents.
Waymo also announced that it will begin testing its driverless taxis on San Francisco freeways this week.
