The fact that we now have fully autonomous ride-hailing services across U.S. cities, mainly from Alphabet's Waymo, Amazon's Zoox and Tesla, is probably the best indicator of the giant leap automotive technology has made 140 years after the world's first automobile went on sale.
But as far as self-driving tech has come, there's still a lot of room for improvement in some areas, including navigating adverse weather (especially rain, snow and fog), dealing with complex human behaviors, such as erratic pedestrians, or encountering unexpected infrastructure failures, such as roadworks and traffic lights going dark, among many other things.
As it turns out, it doesn't take much for robotaxis to stop working, as even a minor thing like a passenger leaving a door open can render them inoperable. This goes to show that, as sophisticated as they are, Waymo's robotaxis still need a human touch once in a while to work.
DoorDash Deliverer Was Offered $11.25 To Close A Waymo Door In Atlanta
CNBC reports that Waymo has found a rather non-technical solution to this problem, namely paying gig workers from companies like DoorDash and Honk to help close the doors of their stranded robotaxis.
When a departing passenger leaves a door open, the car won't move, as the Jaguar I-Pace vehicles Waymo currently uses do not offer the possibility of closing the doors automatically. As a result, the car is left stranded until someone closes the door. To avoid losses related to downtime caused by this issue, Waymo is turning to gig workers from companies like DoorDash, a leading food, groceries, alcohol and convenience items delivery service.
Alphabet confirmed that it's running a pilot in Atlanta to compensate delivery drivers for closing Waymo doors that are left open. The way this works is that DoorDash drivers are notified when a Waymo in the area has an open door, and they can choose to stop by and close the door so the respective vehicle can quickly get back on the road.
DoorDash gig workers have begun posting on social media about this, with one Atlanta driver sharing a screenshot of the DoorDash app on reddit that showed he was offered $11.25 to close a Waymo door located 0.7 miles away from where they were at the time.
Honk Users Can Get Up To $24 Per Trip In LA For Closing A Door
Waymo
Besides DoorDash, Waymo is also paying users of Honk, an independent roadside assistance company, to close the doors of its robotaxis. According to a recent report from Washington Post, Honk users were offered up to $24 per trip in Los Angeles for closing a door; it's worth noting that Honk users already get paid to provide maintenance on Waymo vehicles, such as towing vehicles that have run out of battery or for other minor maintenance needs.
Understandably, deliverers are excited about this new potential source of revenue, although it's not clear how big the market for this is, i.e. how often Waymo passengers leave the doors open after a robotaxi ride.
Waymo and DoorDash told CNBC in a joint statement that they are always looking for new and flexible ways for DoorDash deliverers to earn money, although they pointed out that future Waymo vehicles will have automated door closures. The robotaxi service did not say when that capability will become available, though.
Waymo primarily operates a fleet of all-electric Jaguar I-Pace crossovers for its commercial driverless ride-hailing services in U.S. cities including Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin. However, the company is transitioning to a sixth-generation driver system, which will include modified Zeekr Ojai minivans and Hyundai Ioniq 5 SUVs.
The Ojai is currently undergoing pre-launch trials for employees in cities like Phoenix and San Francisco, with a broader public rollout expected in 2026.
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