Waymo Asks DoorDash Drivers to Shut the Doors of Its Cars

Sunday, February 15, 2026

It still feels like a technological marvel: Waymo's autonomous cars are now transporting passengers across six cities. Alas, this driverless future comes with its own set of problems. These vehicles can be rendered inert if a passenger accidentally leaves the door open.

Posted by LampLighter at 10:30 AM | 2 COMMENTS | permalink

Waymo, Google's autonomous vehicle company, and DoorDash have launched a pilot program that pays delivery workers, at least in one case, around $10 to travel to a parked Waymo and close its door that a previous passenger left open, according to a joint statement from the company given to 404 Media.

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-- 404 Media (@404media.co) Feb 12, 2026 at 2:38 PM

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More from the article ...

... According to a Reddit post, one DoorDash driver discovered this issue when an odd request appeared in their queue. Instead of making a delivery, the driver was offered $6.25 to drive less than one mile to a Waymo vehicle and close its door. After "verified completion," they would get an extra $5.

"You actually door' dashed," one commenter noted.

It seems too ironic to be real.

Waymo vehicles represent technological breakthroughs that once seemed unfathomable. The Alphabet-owned company just raised $16 billion to take its driverless cars international!

But Waymo and DoorDash confirmed to TechCrunch that this Reddit post is legitimate. This is, in fact, a real problem. ...

#1 | Posted by LampLighter at 2026-02-13 07:33 PM