Waymo and Santa Monica are headed to court after the city ordered the company to cease overnight charging of its autonomous vehicles at two facilities, claiming the lights and beeping at the lots were a nuisance to residents.
No agreement was reached after emails, calls and meetings took place between the city and the Mountain View-based company. Then, last week, Waymo and Santa Monica each filed lawsuits against the other, asking a judge to intervene in the dispute.
The two charging stations at the intersection of Euclid Street and Broadway have been a sore point among neighbors since the stations began operating roughly a year ago. Some residents have told The Times they’ve been unable to sleep because of the incessant beeping from Waymos maneuvering in and out of charging spots on the lot 24 hours a day.
Last month, the city ordered Waymo and the company that operates the charging stations, Voltera, to stop overnight operations at the sites, arguing that the light, noise and activity there constitute a public nuisance. Instead of complying, Waymo turned around and filed a lawsuit against the city on Dec. 17.
“Waymo’s activities at the Broadway Facilities do not constitute a public nuisance,” the company argued in its complaint in Los Angeles County Superior Court. “Waymo faces imminent and irreparable harm to its operations, employees, and customers.”
Two days later, the city filed its own lawsuit against Waymo, asking a judge to declare the two lots a public nuisance and order them to stop operating between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.
In an email, Santa Monica City Manager Oliver Chi told The Times the city had been working with Waymo to solve the issue outside of court but, without notice, the company filed its lawsuit.
“While asking the City to delay litigation and continue discussions, Waymo filed its own lawsuit without notice, seeking a court order that would prevent the City from enforcing nuisance protections or requiring further mitigation,” Chi said in an email Tuesday. “That action left the City no responsible alternative but to file its own case to protect residents.”
According to Waymo’s suit against Santa Monica, the city was aware that the Voltera charging facilities were to operate and maintain a commercial electric vehicle fleet 24 hours a day, and the city approved its use when it approved the permits for the stations.
The rift between the company and some Santa Monica residents began as soon as the vehicles began utilizing the stations, which have overnight staffing, lights and cars beeping as they reverse into and out of parking spots. Some angry residents took to blocking the path of the driverless vehicles, blocking the driveways into the charging stations, and placing orange cones in the area to hinder their routes and create backups, a practice several have called “stacking the Waymos.”
Meanwhile, employees at the charging stations have called police several times as a result, although no arrests have been made. Waymo also unsuccessfully attempted to obtain a temporary restraining order against one resident who had allegedly repeatedly blocked the vehicles.
On Nov. 19, the city ordered Waymo to stop charging its autonomous cars at the two lots overnight or face the possibility of legal action. Waymo declined and instead sued after negotiations with the city on mitigation measures to the lots fell apart.
According to Waymo’s lawsuit, the company and Voltera representatives reached out to the city after the Nov. 19 order, looking for ways to mitigate the noise and lights from the lots, including initiating a software update that would change the vehicles’ path to the charging stations. But after a meeting on Dec. 15 with the city, no agreement was reached, the company said in its complaint.
“We are disappointed that the City has chosen an adversarial path over a collaborative one,” a spokesperson for Waymo said in a statement.
“The City’s position has been to insist that no actions taken or proposed by Waymo would satisfy the complaining neighbors and therefore must be deemed insufficient.”
The company also blasted the city’s handling of the dispute, arguing that, despite facing a budget crisis, city officials have adopted a contentious strategy against business.
“The City of Santa Monica’s recent actions are inconsistent with its stated goal of attracting investment,” the company said in a statement. “At a time when the City faces a serious fiscal crisis, officials are choosing to obstruct properly permitted investment rather than fostering a ‘ready for business’ environment.”
City officials disagreed.
“This is not about opposing Waymo or EV charging,” Chi said in an email. “It is about enforcing long-standing nuisance laws that apply to every business when operations substantially interfere with public health, safety, and quality of life. We remain open to early mediation and a prompt resolution.”
In its own lawsuit against Waymo and Voltera, Santa Monica says that the fleet of electric vehicles make hundreds of trips a day on what was once a quiet street, and the cars are now “noisily humming and whirring past dozens of residential units along the way.”
The city alleges that Waymo’s “noisy, loud, overbright, and obstructive use and operation of the Broadway Lots is and has been a public nuisance.”
In its suit, the city alleges that Waymo officials have refused to consider even temporary modifications on overnight operations, “claiming that such modification would be too burdensome on Waymo — a company valued at over $100 billion.”
The lawsuits are just the latest legal battle for the Alphabet-owned company, which has been rapidly expanding across California, making the white, driverless vehicles more commonplace.
Two years ago, the company was sued by the city of San Francisco, which argued that the California Public Utilities Commission shouldn’t have handed Waymo permits to expand and operate in the city, and that the regulatory agency had abdicated its responsibilities.
The California 1st District Court of Appeal disagreed and ruled against the city.
In June, Waymo announced it would expand its service area to 120 square miles in Los Angeles County, with Waymos operating in Playa del Rey, Ladera Heights, Echo Park, Silver Lake and Hollywood.
In November, the company launched its ride-hailing service across Los Angeles County freeways, as well as in the San Francisco Bay Area and Phoenix.
Since it launched in Santa Monica, the company argues it has done more than a million trips in the city and, in November alone, recorded more than 50,000 rides starting or ending there.
“The [charging] site has enabled Waymo to provide a safe, sustainable and accessible transportation option to city residents,” Waymo said in its statement.