SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) — For the past few weeks, Randol White has been dealing with a persistent and annoying problem right outside his San Francisco condo.
“I was like, where is that coming from? And I looked down, and I was like, I think it’s coming from the Waymo cars,” White said.
A parking lot just outside his condo full of driverless Waymo cars has had multiple incidents where suddenly the vehicles seemingly become confused and starts honking all at each other.
White says he heard it the first time about two weeks ago — he was woken up around 4 a.m.
“But then it happened again, and again, and I started thinking, well this is an issue,” White said.
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White isn’t the only one who’s had issues with the noises either.
Several people who live in buildings nearby the parking lot have had similar complaints.
“Over the past two weeks I’ve been woken up more times overnight than I have combined over 20 years,” said Russell Pofsky.
Pofsky lives in a building adjacent to White. He says the honking incidents have happened at random times during both the day and night – and have started to take a toll on him.
“I could not be more cranky today for a Monday after these past two weeks. It’s really at a high level. It’s just really, really… it’s tough. It affects the way you feel,” Pofsky said.
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White says he and others have reached out to Waymo about the issue.
In a statement sent to ABC7 News, Waymo says:
“We are 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.”
White says Monday afternoon was the first time the honking seems to have gotten better.
Despite the inconvenience, he tells me he’s still a fan of the autonomous vehicle company and uses the cars on a regular basis.
“And so I was all about it until the honking started. And all I really want is resolution,” White said.
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