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Waymo woes: Tempe residents frustrated as idle self-driving cars park in their neighborhood

By
Published  May 18, 2023 10:44pm MST
Tempe
FOX 10 Phoenix

Parked Waymo cars frustrate Tempe residents

These days, more and more Waymo self-driving cars are being seen across the Phoenix area, but some residents in Tempe are not pleased with the expansion, as they say idle cars from the self-driving service are being parked in their neighborhood. FOX 10's Ellen McNamara reports.

TEMPE, Ariz. - More Waymo driverless cars are being seen across the Valley. Waymo just expanded out to Tempe and parts of the East Valley. However, not everyone is happy with the expansion.

When people who live along W. Carter Dr. in Tempe wake up, they often see two Waymos parked on the street by the neighborhoods green space.

"These Waymo vehicles have been showing up over the last month in our neighborhood," Roberto Frietz said. "Started out with one. They’re staying here all day, overnight."

"We have two vehicles now," Jim Beal said. "Are we gonna have six, a dozen?"

Frietz and Beal say when the Waymos are not working, they're idling in their Tempe neighborhood.

"It’s an intrusion into residential districts," Frietz said. "These are commercial vehicles. They shouldn’t be allowed to be in here. They should be parked at a commercial yard somewhere. Not in our neighborhoods."

We spoke with Waymo, and officials released a statement that reads:

"Waymo’s ride-hailing vehicles use publicly available parking spaces when needed between trips. We do this because driving around without passengers would unnecessarily add to congestion and be an inefficient use of the vehicle. Also parking locally, as opposed to returning to a Waymo facility, allows us to best match supply and demand to ensure vehicles can arrive quickly when hailed. Once the vehicle is matched with another rider, it continues on its way."

The vehicles are parked legally on public streets, but Tempe residents say the view of their green space is ruined, and they are tired of looking at empty cars that keep running.

"We want to preserve the quality of life in our neighborhood," Beal said. "We don’t want to become a commercial parking lot."

"I’m sure it’s an issue in other neighborhoods in Tempe, and I wish more residents hearing about this would speak up and let the Tempe Mayor and City Council know that it’s a problem," Frietz said.

The men are hoping the City of Tempe can help.

Phoenix Police officials, meanwhile, have said that if a Waymo is parked illegally, they can issue a ticket, because it would go to the owner, not the driver.

Again, the Waymos that are idling are parked legally and on public streets.