Waymo must stop using two Santa Monica charging stations overnight — for now — after a judge found the city might prevail in its contentious legal fight against the self-driving taxi company.This week’s ruling is the latest development in the long-running legal saga, which launched in the wake of resident complaints that the autonomous vehicle company’s round-the-clock operation was besieging them with noise, light and traffic.Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Bradley S. Phillips rejected Waymo’s arguments that city-issued permits allowed them to continue to operate, as well as the contention that sound at the site could not be considered a nuisance because it did not exceed the decibel level necessary to violate specific noise regulations. “Our residents’ ability to sleep peacefully in their own homes is not negotiable,” Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis said in a statement. “This ruling affirms what our neighbors have been telling us for more than a year, and it delivers relief while the case moves forward.”A Waymo spokesperson said the company was disappointed in the order, saying it “may restrict our ability to provide visitors and residents with a safer, more accessible transportation option during some of the most dangerous hours of the day for road users.” “We will explore all available options to ensure we can serve the tens of thousands of Angelenos who depend on our service,” the statement reads.Santa Monica and its residents have been locked in conflict with Waymo for more than a year, after the company began operating two 24-hour charging stations at Euclid Street and Broadway for its self-driving fleet. At the lots, the company’s 56 cars recharge and are cleaned and serviced by contractors. Residents living next door have complained that the nonstop beeping and humming of the autonomous white Jaguar I-PACEs are a nuisance, chirping constantly as they back in and out of charging spots and maneuver to pick up passengers. Neighbors complain the noise and light have made it difficult for them to sleep, work or leave their windows open.Waymo, meanwhile, argues that it has worked to be a good neighbor — adding shrubbery to mitigate some of the lights and sounds, working with federal regulators to reduce the beeping sound the electric cars make when they back up, and turning off most vehicle lights when they are in the lots overnight. But Judge Phillips on Monday ordered the company to stop operating the lots from 11 p.m. to 6 a.m., finding that the city had reasonably demonstrated it could prevail in its arguments that light, noise and traffic stemming from the lots have caused a public nuisance. The order will remain in place for now as the case continues to work its way through the legal process. The judge also rejected Waymo’s claims that the real nuisance had been caused not by the company, but by residents who have at times disrupted operations by blocking access to and from the sites. Waymo also argued that not being able to utilize the lots overnight would make the company unable to offer ride-sharing services in Santa Monica between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m.But in his ruling, Phillips rejected that claim, stating “there is in fact no competent evidence that Waymo could not continue to provide ride-sharing services in Santa Monica,” and that there was no evidence to show that the company couldn’t use vehicles that had been charged during daytime hours. Phillips said Waymo had also argued in court that the rides offered during those hours were in fact a “very small percentage of the total, such that a relatively limited numbers of vehicles would need to be reserved for the overnight hours.”Waymo opened the two lots in January 2025. While the city approved the charging stations at the sites — which are operated by a Culver City-based company, Voltera — emails and documents obtained by The Times showed that Santa Monica officials were unaware Waymo would be charging a fleet of 56 cars around the clock until complaints from residents started to roll in. Some frustrated residents have since adopted their own strategies to thwart operations at the charging lots, which sit next to several homes and apartment buildings. Residents have resorted to using orange cones to stop Waymos from driving through alleyways or onto the lots. Residents have also physically blocked entry into the charging stations, or stopped their cars to cause a traffic jam of autonomous vehicles, a tactic some residents have taken to calling “stacking the Waymos.”After receiving complaints, Santa Monica in November ordered Waymo to stop operating the stations overnight, arguing that the sounds and lights violated municipal regulations and constituted a public nuisance. Waymo refused, prompting the company and city to file dueling lawsuits against each other.In a statement to The Times on Wednesday, the company argued that it has followed all local requirements, but said it would comply with the judge’s order while continuing to operate during allowable hours.The company argued that shutting down overnight could affect its growing operations across the region, however, and contended that complaints regarding the lots have mostly come from “specific individuals” who continue to be disruptive at the sites. In 2025, the company sought and was denied a temporary restraining order against one resident it claimed harassed lot workers and blocked Waymos from entering the site.In a statement, Santa Monica officials said their lawsuit was not meant to hinder autonomous vehicles from operating in the city, but to address conditions facing residents.“Santa Monica welcomes the future of transportation, and autonomous vehicles and the infrastructure that supports them have an important place here,” Mayor Torosis said in a statement. “This outcome reflects what we’ve said from the beginning: new technologies thrive in Santa Monica when they’re designed to operate compatibly with the neighborhoods around them.”
