Late-Night Honking by Self-Driving Cars Disrupts San Francisco Residents
Residents in San Francisco have been startled by late-night honking from Waymo's autonomous vehicles. Honking, which is intended to prevent low-speed crashes, produces disruption when cars move at the same time. Waymo changes its software to prevent honking and minimise noise levels.
The noise has been going on for weeks and is caused by cars congregating in a nearby parking lot.
The honking usually happens around 2 a.m., when the vehicles leave to charge for the day, and again around 4:30 a.m., when they return to the lot. This sound is not a defect, but rather a purposeful feature designed to prevent low-speed collisions. However, when multiple driverless cars move simultaneously, their sensors detect each other, triggering the honking and creating a disturbance in the late hours.
Waymo explained, “We recently introduced a useful feature to help avoid low-speed collisions by honking if other cars get too close while reversing toward us. It has been working great in the city, but we didn’t quite anticipate it would happen so often in our own parking lots.”
The issue has sparked local complaints and national attention, prompting Waymo to intervene and rectify it. The company has updated the software in its trucks to address the honking and reduce noise levels, with the goal of minimising the annoyance to residents.
San Francisco residents disturbed by late-night honking from Waymo's autonomous vehicles
Honking designed to prevent low-speed collisions causes disturbance when cars move simultaneously
Waymo updates software to stop honking and reduce noise levels
Source: San Straight Arrow New
