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Why are Waymo AVs flocking to one dead end in San Francisco?

Answer: It’s still unclear, but it seems to have something to do with the city’s Slow Streets.

waymo
There’s quite the conundrum going on in San Francisco’s Richmond District. Waymo self-driving vehicles, which recently started offering rides to select passengers in the city, are reportedly heading to 15th Street in droves. According to residents, they drive down to the street’s dead end, make a multipoint turn, and then leave the way they came.

“There are some days where it can be up to 50,” resident Jennifer King told local news station KPIX 5. “It’s literally every five minutes. And we’re all working from home, so this is what we hear.” And they apparently do it at all hours of the day, too.

A spokesperson from Waymo provided The Verge with an explanation via email: “We continually adjust to dynamic San Francisco road rules. In this case, cars traveling north of California on 15th Avenue have to take a U-turn due to the presence of Slow Streets signage on Lake. So, the Waymo Driver was obeying the same road rules that any car is required to follow.”