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Waymo is giving DoorDash drivers money to help shut the doors on its robotaxis

Aditi Bharade
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⚡ Quantum Brief
A pilot program in Atlanta pays DoorDash drivers $11.25 per job to manually close ajar doors on autonomous taxis, preventing operational delays when passengers fail to secure them properly. The initiative addresses a current hardware limitation, as Waymo’s robotaxis lack automatic door-closing in existing models, though future vehicles will include this feature—no timeline was provided. DoorDash drivers receive $6.25 upfront plus a $5 completion bonus, with no penalty for declining offers, ensuring flexibility for gig workers participating in the trial. Waymo operates in six U.S. cities (San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, Miami) and plans expansion to the UK and Japan, despite a 7.5% revenue drop in Alphabet’s "Other Bets" division. The collaboration highlights autonomous vehicle reliance on human intervention during transition phases, blending gig economy labor with emerging self-driving infrastructure.
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Waymo is giving DoorDash drivers money to help shut the doors on its robotaxis

Waymo is paying DoorDash drivers to shut its doors. Brandon Bell/Getty Images 2026-02-13T05:14:32.449Z Share Copy link Email Facebook WhatsApp X LinkedIn Bluesky Threads lighning bolt icon An icon in the shape of a lightning bolt.

Impact Link Save Saved Read in app This story is available exclusively to Business Insider subscribers. Become an Insider and start reading now. Have an account? Log in. Waymo is offering DoorDash drivers a gig to shut car doors left ajar by passengers. A Reddit post from a DoorDash employee showed that Waymo had offered $11.25 to have one of its car doors shut. Waymo's robotaxis are available in six US cities, with more to come. Shutting Waymo robotaxi doors is now a potential gig for DoorDash delivery riders. The companies said in a joint statement to Business Insider on Thursday that this was part of a pilot program Waymo is running in Atlanta.The statement said that if a Waymo car door is left ajar and prevents the car from departing, nearby DoorDash workers will be notified to close the door and allow the car to get back on the road quickly. It added that Waymo's future vehicles will have an automatic door-closing function, but did not specify when this would be available.The statement comes a few days after a DoorDash driver posted on Reddit that they had received a job offer to "Close a Waymo Door" less than a mile away. Every time Aditi publishes a story, you’ll get an alert straight to your inbox! Stay connected to Aditi and get more of their work as it publishes. Sign up By clicking “Sign up”, you agree to receive emails from Business Insider. In addition, you accept Insider's Terms of Service and Privacy Policy. The door-closing gig offered a $6.25 guaranteed payment upon acceptance and a $5 bonus upon completion. It also said that declining the offer would not affect the DoorDash driver's job acceptance rate.The Reddit post was titled "Craziest Offer," and asked fellow DoorDash workers if they had ever received a similar offer. This comes as Waymo, an autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service owned by Alphabet, is expanding its footprint in the US and worldwide.Its fleet is available in select US cities, such as San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix, and Miami. Alphabet CEO Sundar Pichai said in an earnings call last week that Waymo would soon expand to more cities in the US, as well as the UK and Japan. Waymo falls under Alphabet's "Other Bets" business category. The "Other Bets" category reported revenues of $370 million in the latest quarter, a 7.5% decrease from the same period the year before, and an operating income loss of $3.62 billion.DoorDash, a food delivery company based in San Francisco, is seeing strong growth, reporting a 27% increase in its third-quarter 2025 revenue to $3.4 billion, from $2.7 billion in the same period in 2024.

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