Waymo has started paying DoorDash gig workers to manually close the doors of its self-driving vehicles when passengers leave them ajar, according to a pilot program currently running in Atlanta.
The unusual arrangement came to light after a DoorDash driver posted a screenshot on Reddit showing a $11.25 offer: a guaranteed $6.25 to drive less than one mile to a Waymo vehicle and close its door, plus an additional $5 after submitting proof of completion. The task explicitly stated “No pickup or delivery required.”
Waymo and DoorDash both confirmed to TechCrunch and CNBC that the Reddit post is legitimate and that the door-closing gig is a real pilot program launched earlier in 2026 to improve fleet efficiency.
“In the rare event a vehicle door is left ajar, preventing the car from departing, nearby Dashers are notified, allowing Waymo to get its vehicles back on the road quickly,” the companies said in a joint statement.
Waymo’s autonomous vehicles will not move if any door remains open, a safety feature that has created an operational headache when riders forget to close them. Previously, the company relied on towing services such as Honk in Los Angeles, which reportedly cost $22–$24 per call. Using nearby DoorDash drivers is a much cheaper and faster workaround.
The pilot is currently limited to Atlanta, but similar arrangements may expand to other Waymo cities. The company is also working on future vehicle designs that will include automatic door-closing mechanisms.
This is the latest example of how autonomous vehicle companies still depend on human labor for edge cases, even as they promote fully driverless technology.
