In what might be the most embarrassing admission of Big Tech incompetence yet, Google's Waymo is now paying DoorDash gig workers to perform the complex technological task of... closing car doors.
That's right, folks. The same company that wants to revolutionize transportation with artificial intelligence can't figure out how to make their robotaxis function when customers forget to close a door. Instead of engineering a solution, they're dispatching human servants to babysit their billion-dollar machines.
The self-driving vehicles become completely paralyzed when doors are left open – apparently a "common occurrence" for the company. So much for the promised efficiency of our robot overlords.
When AI Meets Reality
This embarrassing revelation perfectly captures everything wrong with Silicon Valley's arrogant push to replace human workers with technology that clearly isn't ready for prime time. While tech executives lecture us about the future, their own products can't handle basic everyday situations that any human driver would solve in seconds.
The irony is rich: Waymo eliminates human drivers only to hire different humans to perform tasks even simpler than driving. It's like firing your chef and then paying someone else to open cans for your microwave meals.
"We're witnessing the spectacular failure of Big Tech's promise to make our lives easier through automation," said one industry observer. "Instead, they're creating new problems that require more human intervention than before."
This fiasco raises serious questions about Google's broader AI ambitions. If they can't solve a door-closing problem, should we trust them with search algorithms, data collection, or any of the other ways they've embedded themselves into American life?
The Real Cost of 'Innovation'
While Waymo's executives probably see this as a minor operational hiccup, it reveals the fundamental flaw in Big Tech's approach: building flashy technology without considering real-world human behavior. Meanwhile, traditional taxi and rideshare drivers handle these situations effortlessly as part of basic customer service.
Perhaps it's time for Silicon Valley to admit that some jobs are better left to humans – starting with the ones that require common sense.