Waymo wins appeal to keep late-night Santa Monica operations Play

Waymo has just been given permission by the state of California to operate in Malibu. But the company is fighting for its right to disturb people in Santa Monica.

The company was ordered by a Superior Court judge to stop picking people up after 11 o'clock every night. Waymo set up two recharging facilities right next to apartment buildings in central Santa Monica, where noisy backup alarms and other vehicle operations go on all night.

The zoning was proper, but the court ruled that Waymo was disturbing the peace, which is not legal.

The company ran to get an appeal from the state Court of Appeal, and late last week, it got exactly that. Santa Monica is furious.

The city points out that the state Court of Appeal issued its temporary order without allowing Santa Monica to make its case.

The city says: "The Court of Appeal made this decision without the benefit of the City's opposition, which we are looking forward to providing no later than August 24 as ordered by the Court. To be clear for our residents, the order restores Waymo's overnight access to the Broadway lots for now. Residents have waited more than a year for quiet nights, and we maintain that the City is likely to succeed, as the trial court found."

The state DMV has given Waymo permission to operate in West L.A. and Santa Monica. Now it has extended Waymo's service area as far out as Thousand Oaks.

No exact details about what that means for PCH and Malibu — but we might point out, Malibu sits in that service area. We have heard nothing publicly from Waymo. Does it plan to run driverless taxis through the Malibu construction zones on PCH?