A viral image circulating online claims that autonomous vehicle company Waymo is paying DoorDash drivers up to $11.25 to close the doors of its driverless cars in Atlanta.
The screenshot shows what appears to be a task offer reading “Close a Waymo door”, with $6.25 guaranteed and an additional $5 “extra pay upon verified completion”, bringing the total to $11.25. The job listing states there is “No pickup or delivery required” and that declining the task will not affect the driver’s acceptance rate.
The claim suggests that when passengers exit a driverless vehicle and fail to properly shut the door, local gig workers are being dispatched to close it.
At the time of writing, the image has been widely shared on social media, particularly in discussions around the future of driverless cars and the gig economy.
No official statement from Waymo or DoorDash is included in the viral post itself.
DM News Commentary
If genuine, this raises some interesting questions about the operational realities of driverless fleets.
One of the big selling points of autonomous taxis is reduced labour costs. But if human gig workers are still being paid to handle minor physical tasks — such as closing doors — it shows the technology isn’t entirely hands-off yet.
For those of us in the taxi and private hire trade, it’s another reminder that while automation is advancing fast, real-world street operations are messy. Passengers forget things, doors get left open, luggage gets mishandled. A human driver instinctively deals with these issues in seconds.
Driverless technology may reduce the need for a person behind the wheel, but there are still plenty of on-the-ground challenges to solve.
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