Waymo overnight charging at two Santa Monica lots must stop between 11 pm and 6 am under a new court order, after the city and nearby residents argued that the company’s autonomous vehicle depot had become a nightly noise and traffic problem.
Los Angeles Superior Court Judge Bradley S. Phillips granted Santa Monica’s request for a preliminary injunction this week in the city’s public nuisance lawsuit against Waymo, according to the court’s minute order. The order covers Waymo’s side-by-side charging facilities on Broadway at 12th and Euclid Streets.
A preliminary injunction is a temporary order issued before a case is fully decided. In this fight, it means Waymo loses overnight access to the Broadway charging sites while the broader lawsuit continues.
Why did Santa Monica sue Waymo?
Santa Monica officials and residents say Waymo’s charging operation created persistent noise, light pollution and congestion on nearby streets and alleys. The lots sit across from a private school, with apartments and other homes close by.
Residents have complained for more than a year about the sound of vehicles moving through the lots, including the backup alerts from autonomous cars reversing out of parking spaces. Christopher Potter, who said he lives next to the facilities, wrote in an online petition that the repeated “beep beep beep” from the vehicles disturbed neighbors during the day and at night.
Waymo began using the Santa Monica charging facilities in January 2025. After complaints and the petition, the city ordered the company to stop overnight operations. Santa Monica sued Waymo in November 2025, and Waymo has countersued, according to reporting on the case.
What changes under the judge’s order?
The injunction bars Waymo from operating the Broadway charging lots from 11 pm to 6 am. It does not resolve the lawsuit, and it does not decide whether Waymo’s operations were ultimately unlawful. It gives residents nighttime relief while the nuisance claims move through court.
Some neighbors told Ars Technica they noticed the difference quickly. Dylan Moore, who lives nearby and created the WaymoProblems.org site, said the area was quiet enough after the order to hear crickets. Another neighbor, who asked not to be named because he feared reprisal, said the late-night vehicle movement had been especially noticeable around 2 am, when bars closed, with repeated electric-vehicle acceleration and deceleration outside his Broadway-facing apartment.
Santa Monica Mayor Caroline Torosis welcomed the ruling in a city statement, saying residents’ ability to sleep in their homes “is not negotiable.” She said the order backed up complaints neighbors had been making for more than a year and gives them relief while the case continues.
Waymo did not immediately respond to questions from Ars Technica about the ruling. The next hearing in the Santa Monica case is scheduled for October 2026.
This story draws on original reporting from Ars Technica.
