Driverless Waymo cars still honking despite software fix

SAN FRANCISCO (KRON) – Residents who live near a Waymo parking lot are experiencing an "only in San Francisco" problem.

Every day, Waymo's driverless autonomous vehicles gather in the parking lot on 2nd and Harrison streets to park between rides and recharge. Periodically, the high-tech vehicles start honking at each other.

Residents who live in apartment buildings next door said the overnight (and early morning) honking is too loud to sleep through. Since the issue began on July 28, Waymo's engineers have updated their software at least twice trying to fix the problem. But last weekend, the honking returned.

Resident Sophia Tung devised a tech-centric response after she was woken up around 5 a.m. by a chorus of car horns. She created a 24-hour livestream with two cameras pointed at the parking lot.

The stream, titled "LoFi Waymo Hip Hop Radio Self Driving Taxi Depot Shenanigans To Relax/Study To," has attracted a global following. Viewers from as far away as Europe watched the parking lot stream, which began on Aug. 5.

"Them Waymos be wildin' sometimes," Tung wrote.

Tung noticed that the honking escalated when driverless cars became "bunched up" in the lot, or when a line of waiting cars backed up into the street.

Waymo Director of Product & Ops Vishay Nihalani appeared on the livestream Monday to apologize for the noise and answer questions from Tung. Nihalani explained why the company's driverless vehicles are designed to honk in the first place.

Honking, Nihalani said, helps reduce the number of collisions between driverless vehicles and vehicles driven by distracted people.

"Our self-driving cars are designed to see 360 degrees and not be distracted, unlike human drivers, who are not always fully aware of their surroundings. Our self-driving software is designed to recognize when honking may help alert other drivers to our presence," the company's website states.

Honking between Waymo vehicles was an unexpected snag that will be fixed with upgraded software, according to Nihalani.