A self-driving car that can navigate city streets without a human behind the wheel apparently still needs a little help with something far more basic: closing the door.
Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous vehicle company, confirmed in February 2026 that it is running a pilot program in Atlanta that pays nearby DoorDash drivers to close doors on its robotaxis when passengers leave them ajar. The issue is more than a minor inconvenience — when a Waymo door is left open, the vehicle's safety systems prevent it from moving at all, effectively taking the car out of service until a human physically closes it.
The program came to light after a screenshot posted to Reddit by a DoorDash driver in Atlanta showed an unusual in-app offer: $6.25 to drive less than a mile to a nearby Waymo and close its door, with an additional $5 completion bonus upon verified closure, totaling $11.25. The post quickly spread online, with many users initially skeptical it was real. It is.
Waymo and DoorDash confirmed the arrangement in a joint statement to TechCrunch, saying the program is designed to get stalled vehicles back on the road as fast as possible. "Waymo is currently running a pilot program in Atlanta to enhance its AV fleet efficiency," the companies said. "In the rare event a vehicle door is left ajar, preventing the car from departing, nearby Dashers are notified, allowing Waymo to get its vehicles back on the road quickly."
The Atlanta program is not Waymo's first attempt to solve the open-door problem through gig workers. In Los Angeles, the company has used Honk, a roadside assistance platform, for similar tasks. Honk users there have been offered up to $24 to close a Waymo door, significantly more than what Atlanta DoorDash drivers are earning.
The door-closing partnership is just one piece of a broader relationship between the two companies. In October 2025, Waymo and DoorDash launched a separate autonomous food delivery service in Phoenix, where Waymo vehicles transport groceries and restaurant orders to DoorDash customers.
Waymo currently operates its fully driverless robotaxi service across six U.S. markets, including Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area, and is handling roughly 400,000 weekly rides. The company has outlined plans to expand to dozens of additional cities, including Dallas, in 2026. Waymo noted that future vehicle models will include automated door closure capabilities, eliminating the need for the workaround altogether. No timeline for that capability was provided.
No injuries or traffic incidents have been reported in connection with the open-door issue.
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