US’ Leading Autonomous Vehicle Company Collected 589 Parking Tickets Last Year in San Francisco

Waymo isn’t immune to the everyday traffic ticket

Waymo, the US’ leading self-driving taxi company that’s backed by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc, collected almost 600 parking tickets last year in San Francisco, the city where the rideshare service began testing in 2021. Tickets for Waymo’s fleet, which is comprised of 300 vehicles, equated to $65,065. Comparatively, Los Angeles tagged Waymo with 75 tickets last year, where the company has 100 deployed vehicles, but its service was launched in November of 2024. Waymo’s fleet is fully electric and primarily uses Jaguar’s I-PACE SUV. The autonomous rideshare company has attributed its San Francisco tickets to vehicles dropping off passengers in commercial loading zones when alternative drop-off areas were congested main roads or a spot too far from the rider’s destination, along with brief parking between trips when cars were too far from Waymo’s facility. 

Waymo SUVs have also been cited for blocking traffic and ignoring street cleaning schedules. Waymo spokesman Ethan Teicher told The Washington Post that safety is the rideshare company’s highest priority “both for people who choose to ride with us and with whom we share the streets.” Teicher added that Waymo cars are designed “to take the safest action available during the few minutes we are picking up or dropping off riders, which is when many of these parking citations occurred.”

Sterling Haywood, who has been a San Francisco parking control officer for 17 years, told The Washington Post: “I gave it [Waymo vehicle] the same courtesy I would give if there was somebody in the car.” Haywood described this courtesy as honking twice to warn the Waymo taxi that it was parked in a street cleaning zone during enforcement hours in San Francisco’s Mission District. After the Waymo vehicle didn’t move, he placed a $96 dollar ticket on its window. Waymo has received the most tickets for street cleaning violations at 138 citations, however, it’s important to note that Waymo’s 589 tickets last year in San Francisco represent less than 1% of the city’s 1.2 million issued tickets during 2024. In addition to Los Angeles, Waymo operates in Phoenix, Arizona, and Austin, Texas.

Final Thoughts 

Waymo operates 24/7 across San Francisco, so accounting for less than 1% of the city’s tickets during 2024 can be viewed as quite impressive. The organization’s autonomous technology is also relatively early in its development, launching in San Francisco in 2021. Unlike General Motors-backed Cruise’s self-driving vehicles, which hit San Francisco streets in 2022, Waymo is still operating its fleet and growing.

Cruise suspended its operations in October 2023 after a series of incidents, including dragging a pedestrian, which occurred during the same month. General Motors had invested $10 billion into Cruise by the time the company shut down. While it would be ideal for Waymo SUVs to avoid tickets altogether during instances like parking in street cleaning zones during enforcement hours, the rideshare service would likely receive more criticism if its fleet dropped off pedestrians in dangerous areas to avoid citations.