Waymo Deploys Driverless Robotaxis In San Francisco Freeways

The American autonomous driving company Waymo will begin testing its self-driving vehicles in the San Francisco Bay Area this week.

According to TechCrunch, Waymo—formerly the Google self-driving car project— got approval from California regulators back in March.

The company is now allowed to deploy its robotaxis in that area and charge users for the rides on Los Angeles and San Francisco freeways. However, the first rides are usually for testing by the company’s own employees.

Despite the recent debut, many people have already started to complain about a honking situation. According to The Verge, Sophia Tung, a software engineer who has been live streaming a parking lot in San Francisco that Waymo is using for its vehicles, caught the self-driving vehicles honking at 4:00 am while they parked during downtimes.

There are other situations where the honking seems to be necessary and users are rather impressed. One user shared on Twitter that the self-driving vehicle noticed another car with a driver doing parallel parking and honked while backing up. Saswat Panigrahi, the company’s chief product officer (CPO) explained that it’s a common feature that users notice.

“The Waymo Driver does indeed honk when necessary! Here’s an example where a garbage truck in SF began reversing towards our vehicle. The Driver automatically honked and reversed to make way for the truck before moving on,” wrote the CPO and shared a video with a demonstration.

We get this a lot 😀. The @Waymo Driver does indeed honk when necessary! Here’s an example where a garbage truck in SF began reversing towards our vehicle. The Driver automatically honked and reversed to make way for the truck before moving on. https://t.co/tuNrtx9qGB pic.twitter.com/v0IGgljHoc

— Saswat Panigrahi (@saswat101) August 7, 2024

Waymo is currently providing robotaxi services in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin. According to San Francisco Chronicle, the self-driving vehicles began expanding its presence in San Francisco and Los Angeles in May reaching more than 200,000 people, its largest record since it started providing the services in the fall of last year.

This news comes just days after drivers in China have expressed their concerns about robotaxi’s boom in the country. China’s deployment of self-driving vehicles has been more aggressive and has been growing faster than in the U.S.