Overview
- Residents in northwest Atlanta reported Friday that empty Waymo cars repeatedly circled Battleview Drive’s dead ends, with one neighbor counting up to 50 vehicles in a single hour between 6 and 7 a.m.
- Homemade deterrents backfired when a small road sign blocked an entrance, leaving about eight driverless SUVs stuck while trying to turn around.
- Waymo said Friday it worked with a fleet partner to correct the routing behavior, and the company noted its cars often reposition between trips to be near demand.
- Neighbors say the loops have also shown up on nearby Fern Leaf Circle and at the Glen Ridge Woods townhomes, and they described early outreach to Waymo and officials that brought little response.
- The complaints add to scrutiny of autonomous fleets in Atlanta, where Waymo rides run through Uber, following earlier reports about interactions with school buses and emergency scenes and a recent software recall tied to driving into standing water.