Waymo has its autonomous Jaguar I-Paces in a bunch of cities these days, one of those being Atlanta, Georgia. Unfortunately for residents of the Buckhead neighborhood north of the city, a gaggle of Waymos recently decided to make the residential area’s cul-de-sacs a must-see location on their daily rounds. Numerous videos posted online and boosted by news outlets show a number of Waymos without passengers continuously circling the cul-de-sacs in Buckhead. There’s no discernible reason why these Waymo vehicles were choosing to do this. Local Atlanta news outlets like WSB-TV Atlanta and AJC covered the happenings, with one resident telling WSB-TV that they counted 50 cars in just an hour of observation. At one point, a resident put a "kid crossing," sign up to try and direct the Waymos away from the area, but the Waymos kept coming. Instead of circling the cul-de-sacs, they then became stuck in a traffic jam trying to figure out how to turn around. Road & Track reached out to Waymo to learn why the autonomous I-Paces were behaving this way, and we received an official statement from the company: “At Waymo, we are committed to being good neighbors. We take community feedback seriously and have already addressed this routing behavior. With over 500,000 weekly trips across the country, our service is proven to significantly reduce traffic injuries and improve road safety. We value our relationship with Atlanta residents and remain focused on providing a seamless, respectful, and safe experience for riders and residents alike.” Waymo also told Road & Track that its vehicles in Atlanta are managed by Uber, and that it is working with Uber to prevent this from happening in the future. Additionally, it said that this activity shouldn’t come at the expense of the neighborhood’s peace of mind. Taking a look
Empty Waymos Flood Atlanta Neighborhood, Confusion and Traffic Ensues
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