Residents in a small cul-de-sac in London are up in arms over a lost Waymo driverless car, waking residents up in the early morning. The problem was raised with Waymo in May, but another driverless car is bothering residents on Elder Street in June.
Much like Google Map’s vehicles, Waymo driverless cars are busy mapping out London’s streets while preparing for the launch of driverless minicabs in England’s capital. However, one such car appears to be lost and is making a noise about it, while upsetting the locals.
According to residents in Elder Street in Spitalfields, they continue to be woken by the noisy self-driving car and its “hideous siren” mistakenly driving up and down in their street in the early morning hours, despite best attempts to stop this.
BBC London reportedly raised the issue with Waymo in May, but residents say that at least one driverless car continues to get stuck on Elder Street, while emitting loud automated noises as it reverses out.
Waymo Driverless Car Continues To Wake Residents at 4 or 5 Am
After complaints about the driverless car, Waymo once again apologized to residents in the neighborhood, while saying it has now blocked off roads on its systems in an attempt to prevent this from happening again.
Chris Lloyd is one of the residents of Elder Street in East London and told the BBC has often been awakened by the test car since the start of May. He took the video footage included below.
Self-driving Waymo cars have been at it again: getting stuck in a London cul-de-sac & loudly reversing early in the morning. Waymo says it’s taken action to sort it…again
Huge thanks to @ccshoreditch for alerting us (again!) pic.twitter.com/Vz5NUqPqGv
— Luxmy Gopal (@luxmy_g) June 10, 2026
“I knew it was Waymo instantly from that hideous siren and reversing noise,” he said.
Lloyd, 56, has lived in the cul-de-sac for 16 years and said that with the road being in a conservation area, most of the homes had no double-glazing and were bothered more by the noise. He added:
At 05:30 last week, another [Waymo] car came down the street, stopped about halfway down, tried to reverse, tried to turn around, couldn’t, and reversed all the way down the street again.
I just thought, ‘Oh God, here we go again… a nice wake-up call for everyone’.
Residents have had enough of the noise
Even after Waymo’s apologies about the problems, the issue has persisted. According to a spokesperson, the company has blocked vehicles from entering Elder Street. However, they were able to use another connecting road, which also features a dead end.
Waymo said in a statement that the cars must then “initiate multipoint turns to exit.” Moreover, the company has blocked more roads in the neighborhood “to prevent future traversals” on Elder Street and will “continue to monitor our driving.”
Self-Driving Cars in the Streets of London
Waymo has previously announced plans to operate its self-driving car fleet in London by September this year. Initially, during the testing, a human may sit behind the wheel of the vehicle, but only takes over if needed. It looks like those humans aren’t prepared to work the night shift as the cars move around.
Having enjoyed numerous @Waymo journeys across #California, we’ll be watching with interest how driverless taxis are suited to London’s streets. Saw our first one (with driver) at Waterloo this morning. #waymo #driverless #taxi pic.twitter.com/FDue1P2r5G
— www.transport.photography (@evo_uk) June 11, 2026
On Tuesday this week, expert evidence was given by the London Assembly Transport Committee as to the impact of autonomous vehicles on Londoners. According to Dr. Nick Reed of Reed Mobility, the public has high expectations of the vehicles’ safety.
“The evidence from US cities, we’re seeing an 80 to 90% reduction in crashes compared to human drivers,” Reed said.
“But London is very different to US cities, so you have to be careful about comparisons.”
Steve McNamara of the Licensed Taxi Drivers Association announced that the city is a “mish-mash of medieval villages that joined together” and “jaywalking in this city is a national sport”.
Moreover, the British firm Wayve has said it has plans to launch self-driving minicabs in London this summer, in partnership with Uber.
With the latest technology, the world continues to automate, but not everyone is happy about this. Particularly older folk say they will miss the human touch and a chat when visiting the grocery store or catching a Waymo self-driving cab.