- Waymo’s self-driving taxis racked up heavy fines in San Francisco last year.
- The robotaxis got 589 parking tickets and 124 tickets for obstructing traffic.
Waymo’s robotaxis have been roaming the streets of several cities in the United States for a few years now. They’re quite successful, too, with the company saying earlier this year that it is offering no fewer than 200,000 paid autonomous rides per week—double compared to last year.
But nothing is perfect. That’s especially true for Waymo’s self-driving Jaguar I-Pace EVs, which racked up no less than $65,065 in fines last year just in San Francisco. The driverless taxis obstructed traffic, disobeyed street cleaning restrictions and parked in prohibited areas.
As reported by The Washington Post, the self-driving EVs racked up 589 parking tickets in San Francisco last year. An additional 75 tickets were issued to Waymo’s taxis in Los Angeles, with $543 in fines still outstanding. (At least they stopped honking at each other, so that’s good.)
“I gave it the same courtesy I would give if there was somebody in the car,” said Sterling Haywood, a San Francisco parking control officer of 17 years, for The Washington Post. Haywood was trying to convince a Waymo robotaxi to get moving because it was parked in a spot during street cleaning hours. The parking control officer honked twice, but the car didn’t move, so he placed a $96 ticket on the window.
Waymo said that it always pays the citations and is trying to upgrade the cars “to better avoid parking citations,” according to company spokesperson Ethan Teicher quoted by The Washington Post. The driverless Jaguars can detect if they’re blocking traffic and recognize parking spaces, but sometimes they may briefly stop in a commercial loading zone to drop off riders. Between rides, the robotaxis can “park briefly” if they’re too far from a Waymo parking lot.
Waymo is currently the biggest player in the American robotaxi business after General Motors’s Cruise venture was killed late last year. GM CEO Mary Barra said that “A Robotaxi business is not General Motors’ core business.” The comment came after the automaker invested $10 billion in the self-driving taxi firm over several years.
