Autonomous vehicle company Waymo and the city of Santa Monica, California, have filed lawsuits against each other over the overnight use of charging stations for Waymo cars.
Santa Monica has asked a judge to order Waymo not to use charging stations, operated by the company Voltera, from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m. local time or to take other measures to be less of a nuisance. Resident noise and light complaints cited in their filing mentioned the stations were like a “mini-Las Vegas” or “living next door to a spaceship,’’ according to KABC-TV.
The suit from Waymo, a subsidiary of Google parent company Alphabet, seeks relief to prevent officials in the Los Angeles-area city from messing with the company’s charging operations along Santa Monica’s Broadway.
“Waymo has demonstrated a consistent commitment to being a good neighbor, including by consulting with regulators to mitigate noise concerns … the City has been unwilling to authorize simple improvements to respond to neighbors’ feedback … Waymo and Voltera remain in full compliance with all local requirements and will continue our operations accordingly,” a Waymo spokesperson said in a statement to KABC-TV.
City officials said in their own statement that they filed a suit because Waymo did not assent to changes in operations for the charging stations that would not have involved shutting them down, according to KTTV-TV.
“This is not about opposing Waymo or EV charging. 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,” Santa Monica officials said, according to KTTV-TV.
• Brad Matthews can be reached at bmatthews@washingtontimes.com.
Please read our comment policy before commenting.