Driverless taxi firm sorry for early-morning noise

A driverless taxi company has apologised after one of its cars repeatedly reversed out of an east London cul-de-sac in the early hours, making a loud noise.

Residents of Elder Street in Spitalfields said a Waymo car had been waking everyone up with a "ridiculous mixture of a reversing noise and siren sound" at about 04:00 BST most days last week.

One of them, Chris Lloyd, said because the road is within a conservation area, most homes do not have double-glazing, meaning they are more exposed to noise.

US firm Waymo, which plans to be operating a robo-taxi service in London by September, apologised "sincerely for any disruption caused".

It added: "We take this matter seriously and are working with our operations partner to ensure appropriate action is taken."

Waymo is currently testing its driverless taxis in London, by sending them out with drivers inside them.

The vehicles are not currently taking passengers and are instead mapping the streets whilst being operated by a safety driver.

Lloyd, who has lived on Elder Street for 16 years, said: "We just can't understand why. There is someone in the car, it is quite obviously a dead end and they are still coming down this road multiple times a week.

"By the time the car has made its way back out, everyone has been woken up."

Jenny Black, who also lives on the street, said: "I couldn't quite believe that this loud noise was resonating off the buildings here. The noise was so much louder than a normal car.

"It was persistent so I came downstairs and asked the driver what he was doing.

"He said the car had brought him here and that it was a driverless car.

"He said he was testing it, and he had to allow the car to do what it wanted, and then he would take over at the gate."

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