Even Self-Driving Cars Stop If Doors Aren't Closed
Human Assistance Needed via Ride-Hailing Apps
The rise of autonomous (driverless) taxis operated by self-driving technology has created a new type of job: people who close car doors.
On December 25 (local time), The Washington Post (WP) reported in an article titled "When a Robotaxi Stops, a Secret Human Army Comes to the Rescue" that there is a growing demand for people to resolve issues when robotaxis encounter problems. The outlet introduced the case of Don Adkins, who assisted a Google Waymo robotaxi that had stopped on a street in Los Angeles (LA).
A Waymo autonomous Jaguar electric vehicle operating in Manhattan, New York City, USA. Photo by AFP Yonhap News
One night this month, Adkins was walking along Sunset Strip in LA when he heard someone calling for help. Following the sound, he discovered a Waymo Jaguar vehicle, operating as a driverless taxi, with its turn signal flashing and repeatedly saying, "Please close the right rear door." Initially intending to ignore it, he changed his mind after hearing a car behind the Waymo honking its horn. He then went out onto the street and pushed the Waymo's rear door shut.
WP explained that Adkins had witnessed the "Achilles' heel" of Waymo robotaxis, which transport thousands of passengers each week in cities like LA and San Francisco. While these vehicles can drive city streets and compete with taxi drivers without a human driver, they become stranded if no one closes the rear door after a ride ends. There are frequent cases where robotaxi passengers fail to close the door properly when exiting, or seat belts get caught in the door, preventing it from shutting completely. In such cases, the robotaxi comes to a halt and cannot resume operation without human assistance.
According to WP, Waymo pays more than $20 in LA through an app called Honk to those who close improperly shut doors or assist robotaxis experiencing issues. Honk is a ride-hailing app similar to Uber, but for the towing industry.
Cesar Marenco, who runs a towing company in Inglewood, LA, regularly takes on the job of closing Waymo's doors. In a recent TikTok video, he showed himself approaching a Waymo vehicle with a seat belt caught in the rear door and closing it properly. The video went viral, surpassing 400,000 views. Marenco told WP that he handles up to three Waymo-related jobs per week, including closing open car doors and towing vehicles that have lost power after failing to reach a charging station in time.
Another LA towing company operator, Evangelica Cuevas, said she receives about $22 to $24 (approximately 30,000 won) for closing Waymo vehicle doors, and $60 to $80 (about 90,000 to 120,000 won) for towing jobs. However, Cuevas added that when factoring in fuel and labor costs required for vehicle retrieval, these fees are not always profitable.
WP interpreted the work of closing and towing Waymo robotaxi doors as an example of how advances in automation can create new human jobs to address its shortcomings. On the other hand, for companies operating robotaxi businesses, these costs represent a challenge to be addressed going forward. Philip Koopman, a professor of engineering at Carnegie Mellon University who has researched autonomous vehicles for nearly 30 years, pointed out that paying humans to close doors and retrieve broken-down vehicles is "an expensive task" for Waymo. He added that if the company wants to scale up and compete with Uber and Lyft, it will need to minimize such costs.
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