Mistake: Self-driving cars keep honking non-stop

Honking chaos

It looks like a scene from a dystopian movie: dozens of self-driving cabs honking at each other. What is going on? It all started when Waymo’s self-driving cars took to the parking lot every night to recharge their batteries and get some well-deserved rest.
But instead of sleeping peacefully, they treated nearby residents to a noisy symphony of horns.
“It was like living in the middle of a traffic chaos, but without any real drivers,” complained one local resident.

Parking

Waymo explained what was going on.
The cars had received a new feature that causes them to honk when another car gets too close while parking.
In the hectic streets of San Francisco this is a handy feature, but in their own parking lot the honking got completely out of hand.
The cars were looking for a parking spot almost at the same time and came close to each other while parking and therefore began honking en masse.

After complaints from desperate local residents, Waymo updated the software.
“From now on, our cars will only use their horn when it is really necessary,” said a Waymo spokesperson.
“We hope our neighbors can now sleep peacefully again.”

You can watch the horn concert in the video below:

Also read: Hands-free: self-driving Ford now approved in the Netherlands