Judge orders Waymo to halt overnight charging in Santa Monica after noise complaints

A Los Angeles County judge has granted the City of Santa Monica’s request for a preliminary injunction against Waymo, barring the autonomous vehicle company from using its charging lots at night. The order from Judge Bradley S. Phillips comes in response to a public nuisance lawsuit the city filed over the firm’s side-by-side charging facilities on Broadway at 12th and Euclid Streets.

The judge sided with city officials and residents who argued that the steady stream of vehicles heading to the stations creates light and noise pollution and adds to traffic congestion on nearby streets and alleys. The charging lots are directly across from a private school and close to apartment buildings. Christopher Potter, who says he lives next to the lots, wrote that the constant “beep beep beep” sound of autonomous vehicles backing out is an endless disturbance to daytime and nighttime peace. Neighbors had complained consistently for more than a year.

Under the injunction, Waymo cannot operate the Broadway lots between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. Dylan Moore, a resident who lives down the block and created the WaymoProblems.org website, said the difference was immediately noticeable. “You can hear the crickets, you can hear your thoughts,” he told Ars. He said the neighborhood no longer feels like “a fleet of locusts descending.” The injunction will remain in place while the lawsuit continues.