Waymo Robotaxis accumulated 589 parking tickets in one year

Despite Waymo’s pretension according to which his cars can avoid blocking traffic, they have always accumulated nearly $ 65,000 in parking lots

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The entire concept of Robotaxie is supposed to provide us with practical, safe and effective transport, but it seems that Waymo vehicles in San Francisco develop a talent for something a little less desirable – to take violations. In fact, the company’s fleet of autonomous cars has managed to accumulate a lot of fines.

According to data from the city’s municipal transport agency, Waymo Vehicles received 589 parking tickets in only 2024, accumulating fines that totaled $ 65,065. There are more than 300 Waymo vehicles operating in San Francisco, and last September, they timed more than 10 million kilometers in the streets of the city.

Parking fines: the new feature of a Robotaxi

The Washington Post reports That a good part of these violations, 138 to be accurate, should not follow the street cleaning restrictions, while 134 were to hinder traffic. There were also 77 tickets for parking in prohibited areas and 74 for double car park. If that is not enough, Waymo Robotaxis also received 75 fines in Los Angeles last year. So, apparently, it’s not just a problem with San Francisco.

Read: Waymo Robotaxi Traps Passenger in endless parking circles

One of the city’s parking control agents, Sterling Haywood, said he won a Waymo car ticket after noticing that he was parked for several hours in a place designated for cleaning the street. Although this does not seem to be a big problem, Michael Brooks, the executive director of the Center for Auto Safety, says that if a Robotaxi obstructing the flow of traffic, this could increase the risk of accidents involving other drivers, perhaps forcing them to evolve or brake suddenly.

Waymo defense: security first (and second parking)

Waymo insists that its Jaguar I-Pace models are equipped to recognize parking spaces and detect if they block traffic. However, they can stop in commercial loading areas to deposit a rider “if the only other available locations are a congestioned arterial route, or somewhere much further from where the rider had to go.”

According to Waymo spokesperson Ethan Teicher, vehicles are designed to make “the safest action available” during the short window of the time spent picking up or depositing runners, that is to say at this time that most of these parking tickets seem to occur.

Although the objective of robotaxis is to become safer, everyone in San Francisco does not like Waymo cars. In February of last year, one of the company’s robotaxis was burnt down by vandals during the Lunar New Year celebrations. Sometimes vehicles can simply be boring, like dozens of them gathered in a parking lot in the city and horny in the middle of the night.

Thus, even if the Robotax Revolution is supposed to make life easier, it seems that there is still a road to travel before these autonomous vehicles can be really without problem.