Malfunctioning driverless taxis have been disrupting the sleep of residents in San Francisco's South of Market (SoMa) neighborhood.
Operated by Waymo, an autonomous driving technology company headquartered in California and a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. just like Google, the robocars have been having "honk fests" throughout the night and even during the day.
Locals were excited when the cars powered by artificial intelligence (AI) were first introduced to the neighborhood. But in recent weeks, residents like Randol White have been hearing frequent honking at all hours coming from the Waymo lot. "At first I actually found it really funny, these cars are honking at each other," White, 57, told the Los Angeles Times. "I don't find it funny anymore."
The problem is they do not know where to raise complaints when the cars start to malfunction. "There's no one for me to go down there and have a conversation with because they're a robotaxi," White said. "That's the most frustrating thing, you're just yelling into the void."
Meanwhile, Waymo has reportedly taken note of the problem and said they are working on a fix. "We have identified the cause and are in the process of implementing a fix," Waymo said.
As residents wait for a fix, their patience is wearing thin, with many simply wishing the honking would stop. (Related: WATCH: Residents of San Francisco’s Chinatown set self-driving Waymo car ABLAZE in act of defiance against AI.)
Waymo operates 100,000 driverless robotaxi rides a week
Big Tech is now trying to control public transportation via driverless cars.
Waymo recently announced that it is operating 100,000 robotaxi rides per week. Waymo's co-CEO Tekedra N. Mawakana made the announcement on LinkedIn, saying the company is "building a safer future one ride at a time." In May, the company was only operating 50,000 rides a week.
The company, which boasts around 700 vehicles in its fleet, operates the only commercial AI taxi service in the U.S.: Waymo One. "Congratulations to the entire Waymo team on this incredible milestone and thank you to our riders who make this journey possible," Mawakana wrote.
However, the company has also been receiving backlash. Regulators at the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration are investigating more than 20 reports of Waymo cars that either caused crashes or violated safety laws.
Still, the driverless taxi service insisted that it is improving road safety because 94 percent of crashes in the U.S. are reportedly due to human error. More than 36,000 people in the U.S. die in car crashes each year, a number the company says it is on a mission to reduce.
Moreover, Alphabet pledged up to $5 billion to fund and expand Waymo.
Waymo partnered with the ride-hailing giant Uber in Phoenix to bring its service to the app's existing users. In a statement, Waymo said it added 90 square miles to its service in Arizona City in June, making it the largest autonomous ride-hailing "territory" in the United States.
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Watch the video below about Google's collusion with communist China involving Waymo.
This video is from the David Knight Show on Brighteon.com.
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