Waymo now has greater than 300 driverless automobiles zipping passengers round San Francisco, however whereas they comply with visitors legal guidelines, parking is one other matter solely. Based on metropolis data cited by the Washington Publish, these rolling robots racked up 589 citations totaling $65,065 in fines final 12 months for parking violations that ranged from blocking visitors to street-cleaning restrictions to parking in prohibited areas.
In equity to Waymo, getting a parking ticket in San Francisco is aggravatingly straightforward. The town palms them out like flyers. (Per the San Francisco Customary, the tough quantity final 12 months was 1.2 million.)
A Waymo spokesman tells The Publish that the corporate is engaged on fixing the issue, however we’d hazard a guess that gained’t occur till each automotive is driverless. Waymo automobiles typically cease in business loading zones to drop off riders when the one different choice is a congested major highway or a spot removed from the rider’s vacation spot. In addition they often “park briefly” between journeys in the event that they’re too removed from a Waymo facility. They’re the identical trade-offs human drivers make on a regular basis, and till we’re out of the image, Waymo’s automobiles will in all probability make the identical calls – and get the identical tickets.