Waymo currently has over 300 unmanned vehicles closing passengers around San Francisco, but parking is a completely different matter while following traffic laws. City records cited by the Washington Post show that the rolling robots won a $589 quote last year with a total of $65,065 fine for parking violations ranging from blocked traffic to street cleaning restrictions and parking in prohibited areas.
To be fair to Waymo, getting a parking ticket in San Francisco is fierce and easy. The city hand them over like a flyer. (According to San Francisco standards, the rough number last year was 1.2 million.)
A Waymo spokesperson posted that the company is working to solve the problem, putting the speculation that won’t happen until all cars are unmanned. Waymo vehicles will stop in the commercial loading zone to unload riders if the only other option is busy main roads or far from rider destinations. They may also “temporarily park” during the trip if they are too far from Waymo’s facilities. They are the same trade-offs that human drivers always make, and until we take a photo, Waymo vehicles probably make the same phone and get the same ticket.
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