Waymo’s autonomous taxis are rolling out in more U.S. cities, but not everyone is thrilled about their presence. Residents have spotted these driverless cars making mistakes on the roads, causing traffic jams, and making a lot of noise. Some say the cars seem to be haunting the same locations repeatedly, almost like they have a favorite parking spot.

In Los Angeles, a couple named Lisa Delgin and Zach Tucker noticed something strange. After a New Year’s Eve party, a Waymo taxi dropped them home. Since then, the same car keeps returning to park in the exact same spot—sometimes staying there for hours. Delgin described it like the car “knew there was a spot here that it could take,” almost like it was a beacon calling it back.

Robotaxis with Quirky Parking Habits

This isn’t a one-time thing. In San Francisco, locals have reported similar issues. The Waymo taxis tend to gather in crowded parking lots and honk all night as they try to navigate tight spaces. Delgin and Tucker even looked into the license plates and confirmed that multiple Waymo vehicles are involved in this parking pattern. They’ve noticed the cars only park in two specific spots near their home or just on the property line shared with a neighbor.

Their 10-year-old daughter, Morgan, jokes that “The Waymo is home!” whenever a car returns. If both favorite spots are full, the car will slow down but won’t stop elsewhere. Instead, it only parks in those specific locations, ignoring other options nearby. Another LA resident shared that a Waymo vehicle frequently parks in front of her apartment building, and many neighbors have complained about similar behavior on apps like Nextdoor.

Why Do These Cars Keep Returning to the Same Spots?

Waymo says that their vehicles are programmed to find places to wait between trips without blocking traffic. They’re supposed to park either in designated parking areas or on-street spots. Vishay Nihalani, Waymo’s director of product management, explained that the cars look for suitable parking spots to idle briefly.

But the pattern of parking in the same spots repeatedly is puzzling. To better understand this, Waymo is involved in a research study led by UC Berkeley and UC Irvine. The study looks at whether these parking habits cause traffic issues or other problems on the road.

Some experts think there’s a simple explanation. Phil Koopman, an autonomous vehicle professor from Carnegie Mellon University, suggests that computers tend to do the same thing in the same way every time. “A computer just doing exactly the same thing the same way every time should not be a surprise,” he said.

Koopman also points out that companies might use this predictable behavior as an excuse. Sometimes, when things go wrong, they claim the computer “just did what it was programmed to do” and avoid taking full responsibility for any issues. This raises questions about accountability as autonomous vehicles become more common.

As these self-driving cars become part of everyday life, understanding their quirks and behaviors is important. While they aim to improve transportation, their repetitive parking habits show there’s still work to do to make them more seamless and less disruptive for residents.

Inspired by

• https://futurism.com/family-baffled-waymos-gathering-house

Sources

• gmpg.org
• arstechnica.com
• theverge.com