Honking Waymo Cars Are Torturing People In San Francisco

San Francisco and the surrounding areas have long served as a testing ground for forms of technology that promise to usher in the kind of future that was once only possible in science fiction, and it looks like one company that’s spent billions of dollars developing self-driving cars still has some work to do based on a viral video of a fairly dystopian nightmare.

Google has spent close to 20 years developing technology for self-driving cars in the form of a project that can trace its origins back to researchers at Stanford who were eventually hired to helm what transformed into Waymo (which currently operates under the Alphabet corporate umbrella).

The streets of San Francisco have served as a de facto laboratory for Waymo for around 15 years, and drivers and residents in the city have been the guinea pigs who’ve aided in the development of the autonomous systems that power the company’s fleet of vehicles.

One of those robot cars was destroyed after an angry mob lit it on fire earlier this year, and I don’t think it’s a stretch to assume some people living in the vicinity of a parking lot that’s used to store Waymo’s self-driving taxis want to give them a similar treatment based on what they’ve been subjected to.

According to ABC7,  some residents in the city’s SoMa neighborhood say they’ve spent weeks dealing with incessant honking in the middle of the night that can be traced back to Waymo cars alerting each other of their presence as they attempt to maneuver around their fellow robots.

The outlet reached out to Waymo after the issue was brought to its attention and received a statement that asserts it’s working on a solution, which reads:

“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.”

The future really leaves a lot to be desired.