Two outlets independently confirmed that Waymo has been staging dozens of robotaxis in the shared parking garage of a SoMa condo building since May 2025. After the SF Standard began reporting the story, Waymo reduced its vehicle count at the building.

Residents of SoMa Grand say Waymo has been using their shared parking garage at 1160 Mission St. as a fleet staging hub since approximately May 2025 — and when the San Francisco Standard began asking about the arrangement last week, Waymo reduced its vehicle count at the building.

That sequence isn't incidental. The Standard's Jessica Blough and NBC Bay Area's Sergio Quintana independently confirmed that Waymo has been parking dozens of robotaxis on the third and fourth floors of the Ace Parking–managed garage. The company won't say how many vehicles operate from the location.

Residents on both ends of the commute have now been quoted in two newsrooms. Jacob Thornton told the Standard: "It is not just minorly inconvenient. It is insanity. They brick up, crash out, and block the whole way for 10 to 15 minutes." Jess Thompson, a five-year garage renter, described the returning fleet as "zombie cars coming back to feed." Richard Fink, a 20-year condo owner, warned of "revolt or legal recourse." Quintana spoke with Margarita, who reported being stuck for 20 minutes one morning and arriving late to work, and with Paul Dack, who witnessed three Waymo vehicles simultaneously block the entrance ramp.

Waymo attended a SoMa Grand HOA meeting in May 2025 and offered operational patches: additional parking staff, EV charging stations for residents, two months of free parking, speed bumps, and corner mirrors. The speed bumps, multiple residents told both outlets, made things worse — slowing an already-congested ramp and, per Margarita, wearing on cars that navigate them several times a day.

The regulatory picture has gaps worth tracking. Waymo's 2023 CPUC commercial passenger service permit (Resolution TL-19144) governs driverless fare service on public roads; it says nothing about where vehicles stage between rides. The SF Planning Commission did approve a conditional use authorization (CUA 2022-003331) converting 61 of 189 parking spaces at 1160 Mission for fleet charging — a partial foothold on paper, though whether it covers the full staging operation on the upper floors is unresolved. In 2023, the SF Board of Supervisors rejected Waymo's proposed private lot at 301 Toland St., with a land use attorney at the time noting the company was "breaking uses into smaller, bite-sized packs to avoid scrutiny."

CPUC quarterly filings show 875 Waymo vehicles "associated with a terminal in San Francisco," but facility names are redacted. The commercial terms between Waymo and Ace Parking have not been disclosed. Ace Parking did not respond to either outlet. A spokesperson told both that Waymo "cares deeply about the communities we serve" — a line that landed in print twice before the cars started disappearing from the garage.

The HOA paperwork, if it exists, hasn't surfaced. What has: a fleet that shrank after the questions started.