In Atlanta, which prides itself on its urban forests and expansive tree canopy, it’s not unusual for residents to spot deer, coyotes, foxes and even the occasional bear.
But residents of one Atlanta neighborhood say they’ve been seeing an entirely different breed of creatures: dozens of empty self-driving cars from Waymo that are circling their cul-de-sacs for hours on end.
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One resident, who spoke with Atlanta’s WSB-TV, said the vehicles, which provide rideshare trips through Uber, began showing up about two months ago.
“I think yesterday morning, we had 50 cars that came through between 6 and 7,” the resident said.
The cars, another neighbor said, have been circling “almost every little cul-de-sac” in their area without explanation.
Besides being a nuisance, residents say the excess traffic produced by the vehicles also put their neighborhoods in danger.
“We’re families, we have small animals and pets, got kids getting on the bus in the morning and it just doesn’t feel safe to have that traffic,” another neighbor said.
Residents provided the television station with multiple videos of the Waymos. When reporters visited the neighborhood, they observed only one vehicle with a person in the driver’s seat.
Residents fight back
The residents say their repeated inquiries to Waymo went unanswered. They also contacted their representative on the Atlanta City Council, as well as the Georgia Department of Transportation.
But with no action by Waymo, the city or the state, some in the neighborhood decided to take matters into their own hands. One resident placed what’s known as a Step2Kid sign in the street to block the autonomous cars from entering the cul-de-sac.
But the visual warning sign, used to signify when children are playing, had the unintended consequence of causing the Waymos to pile up.
“We had, at one point, eight Waymos that were stuck trying to figure out how to turn around,” a resident said.
The residents say they want the vehicles to stay on main traffic roads and not enter their neighborhoods unless someone is actually being picked up.
In a statement to Straight Arrow, Waymo — owned by Google’s parent company, Alphabet — said it is “committed to being good neighbors.”
“We take community feedback seriously and have already addressed this routing behavior,” the company said. “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.”
The statement did not address a question from Straight Arrow about why the vehicles congregated in the neighborhood in the first place.
The incident is far from the first time that Waymos have exhibited unusual behavior, whether entering drive-throughs in the wrong direction or crashing into road barriers.
Last September in Atlanta, a motorist recorded video of a Waymo passing a stopped school bus as children exited.
Waymo announced this week that it would begin recalling 3,791 vehicles after a software glitch caused them to drive into flooded streets. In one incident, an unoccupied Waymo was even swept away and only recovered days later after driving into a flooded roadway in San Antonio.
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