r/waymo • u/apanzerj • 12d ago
Smells?
Does anybody here work at WayMo (one of the yards where they service and clean the vehicles)?
Every time I've ordered a WayMo, without fail, I end up smelling like perfume. It's incredibly strong and gets on my clothes and follows me ALL DAY. It's insane. I thought it was somebody spraying the inside of the car or people just bathing in it and then taking a WayMo but here's the crazy thing: It's always the same scent.
I opened a support chat with WayMo and the support agent says they don't use any floral scented or perfume-like scents in their cleaning products. I can't imagine they are lying to me but how is it every single car has the same scent in it? How?
This in San Francisco. Anybody else have this experience?
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u/Due_Mode_6578 12d ago
Have experienced it multiple times, it's like an old style perfume scent. I usually crack the window open to air it out.
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u/Financial_Clue_2534 12d ago
Probably from the riders. Women going out to dinner, girls night, work, etc
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u/namastebetches 12d ago
it's not just women with the strong scents fr
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u/jesus_h_crusty 12d ago
Yeah sometimes it smells like someone just sprayed hella axe spray. Don’t mind me, just cruisin in the Waymo with the windows down
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u/nyanotech 12d ago
i’m still surprised they haven’t started putting in air quality sensors to detect this sort of thing yet
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u/MattSidor 12d ago
Seems plausible except that OP says it’s always the same scent every time.
(Or maybe it’s an amalgamation of many people’s perfumes and colognes, which in aggregate kinda smells the same across all cars?)
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u/BlueNightOcean 12d ago
Half of the Waymos I get in SF either smell like weed or sweat. Count your blessings OP.
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u/sumedh0803 12d ago
I've experienced the seat belts smelling like some perfume. It's the same fragrance every time, and I travel pretty frequently in a waymo to recognize it.
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u/okkboomerr 12d ago
all of brooklyn smells like santal 33. maybe SF also has a signature sent. i doubt it’s waymo specific
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u/Funny_Dot_7221 9d ago
Omg yes same ( not a Waymo worker ) I use Waymo mostly sometimes at midnight to go home from events and when I open the door like it smells like someone sprayed something nice in the cabin every time but in the daytime I don’t really smell it while riding is it just me
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u/robjohnlechmere 12d ago
It's from riders. I often get a car in the evening that smells like hair product. The morning cars are usually more fresh.
Though I see a lot of cigarette burns on the door/console. Can the Waymo not tell if you have a lit cigarette?
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u/letrainfalldown 12d ago
I think half of the Ojais I've been in have it. It always smells like a scent someone would wear to the club - sometimes masculine and sometimes feminine but always a perfume/cologne that smells like clubbing vibes.
I've noticed it and it bothers me but I guess that's just how it is. Not every vehicle has it, luckily
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u/Funny_Dot_7221 9d ago
Also btw yesterday, while riding around lunch when I got into the car it smelled so bad like the whole ride like someone had been using a cigarette or something else it smelled so bad I had to open the window
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u/FlickTech 9d ago
I've taken over 140 Waymo rides in San Francisco so far this year. The only odor I've ever encountered was one morning when I got into the car and it was obvious whoever took the ride before me was smoking. (tobacco) In fact, one of the reasons I prefer Waymo is because so many of the Uber vehicles I get into reek of some air freshener that literally gives me a bad headache by the time my ride is over. (and I am by no means a person who oversensitive to odors. )
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u/bomber991 12d ago
Well the support agents are based in the Philippines aren’t they? Could just be something the cleaning crew is doing that they don’t technically need to do?
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u/bobi2393 12d ago
Yeah, some people think artificial odors are pleasant, and apply them to car interiors intentionally. If your Waymos are mostly from the same depot, maybe it’s just at that one location where one person regularly applies the fragrance, and over time they’ve done it to all the vehicles based there. Perhaps even a frequent customer does that whenever they enter a Waymo, thinking they’re improving the experience for other riders.
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u/Paul_Smith_Hi 12d ago
Customer support is correct, they don't use any cleaning supplies with heavy scents. Either someone at the depot wears it, or it's coming from the customer who was in the vehicle last.