The hit 1985 sci-fi film Back to the Future promised us flying cars and hoverboards by 2015. A decade later, we have automatic vehicles that crash into poles and require a monthly subscription to adjust your seat.
Today, it might take two cars to complete a trip: the robotaxi that drops you off, and another dispatched to close the door after you step out. Some robotaxi customers are so lazy, it turns out, that Waymo has teamed up with DoorDash to send drivers to close the doors of automatic vehicles rendered immobile.
A Reddit post in the r/DoorDash_Dasher subreddit shows a screenshot of a DoorDash offer in downtown Atlanta to go “close a Waymo door.” The DoorDasher would be paid an initial $6.25 to accept the offer and an additional $5 upon completion of the task.
The DoorDash partnership is the latest in Waymo’s efforts to work out one wonky nonautomated feature of its otherwise automated robotaxi program: The doors require a human to close them. Waymo has already employed a similar practice in Los Angeles, the Washington Post reported, using the app Honk that contracts with towing companies to slam those doors shut. Drivers on the app, dubbed the “Uber for towing,” have reported getting paid as much as $24 to close a Waymo door. Towing a car—as was necessary during a recent power outage in San Francisco that rendered many Waymo vehicles immobile—can bring in as much as $80.
