Honking from self-driving cars keeps San Francisco residents up at night

Residents in a San Francisco neighborhood have been dealing with an unusual and persistent noise issue: late-night honking from autonomous vehicles operated by Waymo, a driverless taxi service. The noise, which has been ongoing for weeks, originates from the cars as they gather in a lot near the area.

According to residents, the honking typically occurs around 2 a.m. when the vehicles leave to charge for the day and again at approximately 4:30 a.m. when they return to the lot. The sound is not a malfunction but a feature designed to prevent low-speed collisions. However, when several of these driverless cars start moving simultaneously, their sensors detect one another, triggering the honking and causing this late-night disturbance.

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“We recently introduced a useful feature to help avoid low-speed collisions by honking if other cars get too close while reversing toward us,” Waymo said in a statement. “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 issue generated both local complaints and national attention, prompting Waymo to step in and attempt to resolve the problem. The company has since updated the software in its vehicles, which it claims should resolve stop the honking and reduce the noise levels.