--- title: "Confused Robotaxis Gather in Droves to Honk at Each Other All Night" description: "Footage shows a gaggle of Waymo robotaxis honking incessantly while trying to park in a tight parking lot in San Francisco." date: "2024-08-14" modified: "2024-08-14" authors: - name: "Frank Landymore" job_title: "Contributing Writer" link: "https://futurism.com/authors/flandymore" url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/robotaxis-gather-honk-all-night" categories: - "Advanced Transport" tags: - "robotaxis" - "Self-driving cars" - "the digest" - "waymo" --- # Confused Robotaxis Gather in Droves to Honk at Each Other All Night ![Footage shows a gaggle of Waymo robotaxis honking incessantly while trying to park in a tight parking lot in San Francisco.]() *\Image: Courtesy of Randol White\* ## Feeling Horny Being a driver in a big city means you're probably going to use your horn — a lot. And now, weeks after [debuting rides]() to the entire public, [Waymo robotaxis]() in San Francisco have started honking excessively, too — except they're not doing it on the streets, but while trying to navigate the complicated terrain that is a local parking lot. Just ask the bleary-eyed people who live right next to the ruckus, like Randol White, a resident of San Francisco's South of Market neighborhood, who complains that the rowdy robotaxis have been making noise around the clock. He's been woken up in the middle of the night multiple times by the self-driving cars, he claims, and on one occasion, at 4 am. "At first I actually found it really funny, these cars are honking at each other," White [told the *Los Angeles Times*](). "I don't find it funny anymore." And neither do his neighbors. "Over the past two weeks I've been woken up more times overnight than I have combined over 20 years," Russell Pofsky, who lives in a building next to White, [told *ABC7 News*](). ## Cab Cluster Waymo, a subsidiary of Google, has been a leader in self-driving technology over the last fifteen years. Last month, it hit a milestone by [opening up its robotaxi service to everyone in San Francisco](), when before it was limited to a waitlist. So all eyes are on Waymo right now — and apparently, all ears are, too. Beyond all the honking, of course, there's also plenty of back-up beeping and flashing lights. The robotaxis appear to have taken over the lot right after Waymo's expanded rollout. And while they may be capable navigators on the streets, they have yet to master parking. Footage of the event circulating on social media shows a gaggle of them trying to get past a few robotaxis pulling into a parking space, others trying to pull out — and all of them slowing to a crawl. https://twitter.com/abc7newsbayarea/status/1823256993311740196 ## Driving People Nuts The self-driving company told the *LA Times* that it's "aware that in some scenarios our vehicles may briefly honk while navigating our parking lots," and added that it's working on a fix. White, who didn't hear back from Waymo when he reached out, had a few choice words about that characterization of the issue. "If briefly means multiple times a day, at all hours of the day and night," he told the *LA Times*, "it's not briefly." We've already seen robotaxis screw up in similar ways before, like causing silly, [avoidable]() [traffic jams](), or even [driving on the wrong side of the road](). These are some of the inevitable growing pains you might expect from rolling out such experimental technology. But if Waymo isn't careful, it could tick off its potential customers before they even climb inside one of its rides. "I was happy to see the Waymos coming in," White told the *LA Times*. "But this aspect of it, I'm not a fan." **More on robotaxis:** *[Waymo Suing People Who Allegedly Trashed Its Robotaxis]()* ## Author At Futurism, my work has often centered on bringing a sense of clarity and insight to complex topics ranging from the regulation of emerging technologies to the esoteric ideologies of Silicon Valley executives, while striving not to lose the poetic sense of awe inspired by often-obscure fields like astrophysics and quantum computing. I broke the story of CNET using AI to produce articles that turned out to be riddled with factual errors and plagiarism — a dam-breaking inflection point, as I've reported, that's inspired copycats and endless discourse while beguiling stakeholders ranging from tech giants to purveyors of spam around the web. My work at Futurism has been cited by publications including CBS News, the Los Angeles Times, Vice, Gizmodo, Engadget, the Verge, and Vanity Fair. I grew up in locales ranging from India to China, and now live in the exotic suburbs of Virginia. In my free time, I'm an avid reader of weird sci-fi literature, an aficionado of East Asian cinema, and, regrettably, a relapsed gamer. Allegedly, I’m working on a debut novel, currently untitled. ### Author social links [Bluesky]()