A quiet Buckhead, Atlanta cul-de-sac has become an unlikely staging ground for scores of autonomous Waymo vehicles, leaving residents rattled and demanding the company rethink its routing practices.
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In recent weeks, families in the northwest Atlanta neighborhood have reported a dramatic surge in driverless Waymo cars looping through their streets — vehicles that appear to be idle, not carrying passengers. One neighbor counted roughly 50 cars passing through in a single hour one morning.
“I think yesterday morning we had 50 cars that came through between 6 and 7,” the resident told local station WANF. In another instance, eight vehicles were spotted “stuck trying to figure out how to turn around,” and a separate video captured 13 Waymo cars rolling through in just ten minutes.
For families living on those streets, the numbers are more than just curious — they feel dangerous.
“Our big concern is just the excessive traffic on the street,” one neighbor said. “You know, we’re families, we have small kids, we have animals and pets, we’ve got kids getting on the bus in the mornings, and it just doesn’t feel safe to have that traffic.”
Nearby resident Deborah Childers echoed the frustration.
I’m just hoping that Waymo will only come in our neighborhood when they’re called, like an Uber, you know, not use our neighborhood as a holding area or a training ground,” she said. “It’s enough of them that it’s bothersome. It’s not like one. It’s like three or maybe four. They do the same loop.”
The concerns come as Waymo faces heightened scrutiny nationally. The company — which handles roughly 500,000 rides per week across the U.S. — has issued multiple voluntary software recalls in recent months, including one covering nearly 3,800 vehicles after a robotaxi drove into a flooded San Antonio roadway and was swept into a creek. Earlier recalls addressed vehicles that illegally passed stopped school buses in Austin, Texas, and others that collided with roadside barriers like gates and chains.
In a statement provided to PEOPLE, a Waymo spokesperson said the company is already working to fix the routing behavior.
“At Waymo, we are committed to being good neighbors. We take community feedback seriously and have already worked with our fleet partner to address this routing behavior,” the spokesperson said. “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.”
