Autonomous driving has difficulty crossing the last 1 centimeter: Waymo, valued at $100 billion, needs to have the American version of a "delivery guy" to close the car door.

Alphabet's autonomous driving car company Waymo confirmed on Thursday that they are conducting a pilot project in Atlanta to pay delivery drivers to close the doors of Waymo vehicles that are left open. The company stated that DoorDash drivers will receive notifications when Waymo car doors are left open in the area, in order to quickly get the vehicles back on the road. Waymo's vehicles operate without human drivers. However, the vehicles will not be able to move until a passenger closes the door that was left open. To accomplish this task, Waymo is enlisting gig economy workers from companies like DoorDash. Prior to this announcement, a post on Reddit showed that a DoorDash driver in Atlanta was offered $11.25 to close the door of a nearby Waymo vehicle. In a joint statement provided to the media, Waymo and DoorDash stated that they have been looking for new, flexible ways for DoorDash's delivery drivers to earn money, and added that future Waymo models will have automatic door closing capabilities. Waymo did not specify when this feature will be rolled out. Waymo's reliance on human intervention for simple tasks highlights the need for costly human intervention in certain basic operations even with advanced autonomous driving technology. In a recent round of financing, Waymo was valued at $126 billion. According to Alphabet's financial statements, Waymo is a core part of its "Other Bets" segment, which aims to "apply technology in an attempt to solve significant problems across a broad range of industries including transportation and healthcare technology." In Alphabet's annual report submitted last week, the company stated that the "Other Bets" segment incurred an operating loss of $7.5 billion last year, including $2.1 billion in stock-based compensation expenses generated by Waymo. In addition to DoorDash, Waymo is also paying users of the independent road assistance company Honk to close the doors of their self-driving rental cars. Honk users who provide maintenance for Waymo vehicles can earn up to $24 for closing a door in Los Angeles. On Thursday, as Waymo aims to expand its leading position in the United States, the company began deploying its next generation of self-driving taxis. Currently, Waymo offers fully automatic self-driving taxi services in six markets in the U.S. and plans to expand to more cities this year.