Honking in parking lots at night: software update to quiet Waymo cabs
Robot cabs in San Francisco honked at each other in a parking lot at night because of a safety function. A software update should reassure residents.
The service is already established on the streets of San Francisco.
(Image: Waymo)
Self-driving cabs from the provider Waymo have kept residents of a parking lot in San Francisco (California, USA) awake. This was triggered by a safety feature in which the robotaxis sound their horns when someone reverses towards them. This led to chain reactions in the parking lot that the company had rented for parking the vehicles at night. The vehicles that were parked there at night started to honk their horns when parking. A software update is now intended to rectify the undesirable side effects of the function.
The purpose of honking is to avoid collisions at low speeds, Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli explained to The Verge. "It worked well in the city, but we didn't expect it to happen so often in our own parking lots." A software update should now give residents more peace and quiet at night and reduce night-time noise.
Resident publishes livestream
A local resident recorded the honking concert and published a video on YouTube. She also set up a livestream and set it to relaxing music. The spectacle can be seen in the video. At 4:04 a.m. local time, the robotaxis drive around chaotically. However, the honking could no longer be heard.
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The self-driving cabs in San Francisco can be summoned via an app from the provider Waymo. You enter your start and destination there and can then get into the cab. A test of the robotaxis is now to start on freeways. If the vehicles are not in use at night, they will return to the parking lot. Waymo has repeatedly encountered resistance in San Francisco. There have been numerous incidents and accidents involving autonomous driving in road traffic. An official investigation began in May as a result.
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