In a strange twist in technology news, Waymo has finally managed to quiet its honking autonomous cars after a week-long ordeal that disturbed residents of a San Francisco neighborhood.
The bizarre story began last week when reports surfaced that driverless cars, owned by Waymo, were keeping locals awake with incessant honking. The issue arose when the autonomous vehicles would reverse into parking spaces in a local lot, triggering nearby Waymo cars to start honking uncontrollably.
Local resident Christopher Cherry recounted the growing frustration, telling NBC Bay Area News, “We started out with a couple of honks here and there, and then as more and more cars started to arrive, the situation got worse.”
Waymo responded swiftly, claiming to have deployed a software update designed to stop the unnecessary honking. However, the autonomous cars continued to create a symphony of unwanted noise.
In a bid to highlight the ongoing issue, sleep-deprived resident Sophia Tung set up a live stream to showcase the persistent honking from the Waymo cars. She even arranged an interview with Waymo’s director of product and operations, Vishay Nihalani, which she streamed live on Monday.
During the interview, Nihalani acknowledged the problem, explaining that while honking is a critical safety feature for vehicles on public roads, there was no justification for one autonomous car to honk at another in a parking lot. Although the initial software patch failed to resolve the issue, a second update was released, which appears to have finally silenced the robocars, restoring peace to the neighborhood.
Waymo has been testing its driverless cars in San Francisco for years and is currently using them to trial a paid ridesharing service for the city’s residents. With this issue seemingly resolved, the company can continue its operations without further disturbances.