Dozens of Waymo cars circle Atlanta

Waymo said on May 19 it had addressed a routing problem after residents in an Atlanta neighborhood spent days posting videos of empty robotaxis repeatedly circling a cul-de-sac. The reports centered on Battleview Drive in northwest Atlanta, where neighbors told local television station WSB-TV that clusters of self-driving Jaguar I-PACE vehicles had been entering dead-end residential streets, looping around and leaving without picking up passengers. Waymo told local media it had already changed the behavior after receiving complaints. Automotive News, citing the company, said the issue involved “fleet positioning” managed by a third party. ### Where, exactly, were the cars circling? Battleview Drive was the street identified by WSB-TV and other follow-up reports from national outlets that cited the station’s footage. WSB-TV said residents in the area had been seeing the autonomous vehicles for about two months, but that the larger waves of cars circling in and out had become more noticeable in the previous couple of weeks. ABC News, citing WSB-TV and Storyful video, said multiple Waymo vehicles were filmed driving down the street, circling the cul-de-sac and heading back out. (wsbtv.com) ### How many cars did neighbors say they saw? A resident on Battleview Drive told WSB-TV that “50 cars” came through between 6 and 7 a.m. on one recent morning. Another resident said the problem extended beyond one block, telling the station that “almost every little cul-de-sac in our area” was seeing similar traffic. WSB-TV also reported that when a resident placed a children-at-play sign in the street, eight Waymo vehicles ended up stuck while trying to turn around. (wsbtv.com) Residents told WSB-TV the vehicles were empty and not actively picking up riders, which added to the confusion over why they were using small residential dead ends. One neighbor told the station, “We’re families, we have small animals and pets, got kids getting on the bus in the morning and it just doesn’t feel safe to have that traffic.” (wsbtv.com) ### What did Waymo say caused it? Waymo told WSB-TV it had already “addressed this routing behavior” and said it took community feedback seriously. Automotive News, citing the company, reported that the anomaly was tied to “fleet positioning” handled by a third party, and said news coverage prompted Waymo to reprogram the cars. That description suggests the vehicles were moving into place while empty rather than carrying passengers through the neighborhood, though Waymo’s public comments in the available reports were brief. (wsbtv.com) ### Why were empty Waymo cars in Atlanta in the first place? Waymo’s Atlanta service operates through Uber, not through the standalone Waymo app. On its rider information page, Waymo says passengers in Atlanta can be matched with a fully autonomous vehicle through the Uber app if they are inside the company’s service territory and a vehicle is nearby. The company also says the Atlanta fleet serves a limited area stretching from south Atlanta to downtown and Buckhead. (wsbtv.com) Waymo has also been expanding its operating footprint. In a May 13 post on its official blog, the company said it was enlarging service areas in several cities, including Atlanta, as part of a broader rollout across 11 cities. Waymo says its fleet now provides more than 250,000 trips a week nationwide and has logged more than 100 million real-world miles without a human at the wheel. (waymo.com) ### Did the company say what happens next? Waymo’s immediate next step, according to the statements cited by WSB-TV and Automotive News, was to change the routing so the cars would stop circling those streets. Atlanta riders can still request Waymo vehicles through Uber inside the company’s local service zone, and Waymo’s blog says the company is continuing to expand in Atlanta alongside Austin, Houston and the San Francisco Bay Area. (waymo.com) (wsbtv.com)