Waymo Parking Tickets: 600 Citations in San Francisco

Waymo's Parking Ticket Troubles in San Francisco

Waymo currently operates a fleet exceeding 300 driverless vehicles providing passenger transport within San Francisco. Despite adherence to standard traffic regulations, challenges arise when it comes to parking compliance.

City records, as reported by The Washington Post, indicate that these autonomous vehicles accumulated 589 parking citations in the past year.

These infractions resulted in a total of $65,065 in fines, stemming from violations such as obstructing traffic flow, disregarding street cleaning schedules, and parking in designated no-parking zones.

San Francisco's Prolific Ticketing

It's worth noting that receiving a parking ticket in San Francisco is a common occurrence. The city is known for its frequent issuance of citations.

The San Francisco Standard reports that approximately 1.2 million parking tickets were issued throughout the city last year alone.

Waymo's Explanation and Ongoing Efforts

A Waymo representative communicated to The Post that the company is actively addressing the issue.

However, a complete resolution is anticipated to coincide with the widespread adoption of fully driverless transportation.

Waymo vehicles sometimes utilize commercial loading zones for passenger drop-offs to avoid heavily congested roadways or distant pickup locations.

Furthermore, these vehicles may briefly pause between trips if a Waymo facility is not immediately accessible.

These are similar considerations made by human drivers, and until fully autonomous systems are ubiquitous, Waymo’s vehicles will likely continue to make comparable decisions – and potentially receive similar citations.