Waymo has resolved a persistent issue with its robotaxis honking excessively in a San Francisco parking lot. After previously attempting to address the problem with a software patch, the company found that the issue persisted, leading to further disruption. The problem first came to light when software engineer Sophia Tung livestreamed the nightly arrival of Waymo’s autonomous vehicles, which would park and begin honking, sometimes for up to an hour around 4 a.m.
Despite an initial patch intended to stop the vehicles from honking at each other in close quarters, the honking continued. However, in a recent interview with Tung, Waymo’s Director of Product and Operations, Vishay Nihalani, confirmed that a new software update has been implemented. Nihalani explained that while honking is a necessary feature for public road safety, the group honking in the parking lot was an unintended consequence, which they have now addressed.
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