San Francisco's Nocturnal Taxi Ballet

For the past few nights, I've concerned myself with the private lives of autonomous vehicles. It started when I read a news story about a San Francisco apartment complex whose residents were repeatedly awoken at 4 a.m. by honking self-driving taxis. The building overlooks an open-air parking lot that Waymo recently leased to store its vehicles. In the wee hours of the morning--between ferrying home overserved bar crawlers and picking up commuters during the morning rush hour--dozens of the autonomous white sedans fill the lot, power down, and wait to be summoned. Sometimes, too many awaken at the same time and back up while trying to make their way to the exit, only to find the lanes clogged by their brethren.