Judge Orders Waymo to Stop Overnight Charging at Two Santa Monica Lots

The Los Angeles County Superior Court granted the City of Santa Monica's request for a preliminary injunction on July 27, 2026, barring Waymo from operating its charging and servicing facilities at 1222 and 1310 Broadway between 11 p.m. and 6 a.m. while the underlying case proceeds to trial.

The court found the city had shown a reasonable probability of winning its public-nuisance claim, citing persistent noise, lights, and traffic from around-the-clock charging and staging operations affecting nearby residents — and ruled that the harm to those residents outweighed the harm an overnight restriction would cause Waymo.

Waymo said it was disappointed but would comply with the order; the company is separately appealing the ruling while continuing overnight operations at other facilities not covered by the injunction.

A status conference is scheduled for October 23 to review what remediation measures — acoustic barriers, revised charging schedules, or facility relocation — might allow Waymo to resume full overnight operations at the two Broadway sites.

The case is a preview of a friction point every robotaxi operator will eventually hit: a fleet that runs 24/7 needs infrastructure that also runs 24/7, and depot-style charging operations weren't necessarily sited or designed with residential-noise ordinances in mind from day one.

Expect more cities to follow Santa Monica's public-nuisance playbook rather than negotiate case-by-case as robotaxi fleets scale — it's a faster legal lever than zoning changes, and this ruling gives other municipalities a tested template.