A Waymo can drive across Atlanta and still need someone to walk over and shut its door. In February 2026, the company began a pilot that paid nearby DoorDash drivers to return stranded cars to service. Atlanta News First reported Waymo’s confirmation: a door left ajar prevents the vehicle from departing.
404 Media reported an offer of around $10 in at least one case. Waymo did not publish a standard rate in its statement to Atlanta News First. One offer tells us what a worker saw, not what every door closure costs.
The expensive part is getting there
Closing a door takes seconds. Reaching the vehicle may take longer. A worker has to accept the task, travel to the car, find somewhere to stop, and confirm completion. The useful earnings measure includes all that time, along with any delivery the worker gives up.
Waymo has the opposite calculation. An open door makes an otherwise capable vehicle unavailable for its next fare. Paying someone nearby could cost less than dispatching a dedicated recovery team. That is a plausible operating advantage, but the pilot announcement supplied no response times, task frequency, or cost comparison.
This is the same interruption problem as Uber’s digital microtasks. A small payment can look attractive beside a small action. The job gets less attractive when travel, waiting, and switching tasks consume the worker’s day.
The fleet has more jobs than driving
I’m pro-Waymo because riders can use the service. The company reported more than 400,000 weekly rides in February 2026, when the door pilot became public. At that volume, even an occasional physical exception deserves an operating plan.
An automated door could remove this particular task. It would still need maintenance, and it would not clean the cabin or recover a damaged vehicle. Those jobs belong in the work behind a driverless ride, alongside remote assistance and depot staff.
The pilot leaves two numbers unanswered: how often a door stays open, and how long the car waits for help. Both belong beside the ride counts in the robotaxi map. For the worker, the calculation is more immediate: does the payment cover getting there and getting back to deliveries?