More than 50 driverless taxis from Waymo company entered a residential area on Battleview Drive in Atlanta, USA early in the morning and circled around in a closed-off street, startling residents as they woke up from their sleep.
The fleet of autonomous vehicles not only blocked streets within the residential area and caused noise, but residents are also quite concerned about the safety of children and pets in the neighborhood, worried that the cars might collide with them.
The situation worsened when some residents tried to install road signs to block the cars from entering, but the AI system in these robotic vehicles could not properly determine the route and only stopped at curves, causing traffic jams throughout the entire residential area.
Residents say they are not against technology, but they criticize that these autonomous vehicles should operate on main roads rather than circling around in narrow residential streets without passengers. They want the vehicles to be driven on major roads instead.
Regarding this problem, Waymo company announced that it has heard public criticism and is urgently working to improve the route selection system for the vehicles.
However, this chaos caused by driverless cars in Atlanta is not the first incident. In April, three driverless taxis were stuck together at a traffic light and caused major traffic blockage, so there is ongoing debate about whether this technology is truly reliable.
Ref: Khaosod
