What it's like to ride in a Waymo robotaxi

The big picture: Alphabet-owned Waymo is the clear leader in autonomous vehicle technology.

• While other AV companies are still in the development phase — or have disappeared altogether — Waymo One is a legit commercial robotaxi service that's expanding.
• It provides more than 200,000 rides per week in San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. In 2024, it racked up more than 4 million paid passenger trips.
• The company is targeting Miami and Washington, D.C. next, and making Waymo vehicles available on the Uber app, too, starting with Austin, Tex., and soon, Atlanta.
• While Tesla and Zoox are planning but have yet to launch fully driverless taxi services, Waymo vehicles are already transporting paying customers in giant swaths of select cities with no one in the driver's seat.

Instead of renting a car during a recent trip to LA, I decided to take Waymos everywhere I could.

• I was out of luck getting to and from the airport. Waymo doesn't yet serve LAX and doesn't go on the highway.
• But it does provide 24/7 ride-hailing service across 79 square miles of the city, including Santa Monica, Hollywood and downtown.
• Only once did I have to adjust my destination by a block because it was just beyond the edge of the service area.

Here's what I learned: The Waymo One app is a lot like hailing an Uber or Lyft. You can track your ride, update the pickup or drop-off spot, and share your route with a friend.

Yes, but: Sometimes the vehicle can't stop exactly where you'd like, so you might have to walk around the corner.

• That's partly because of limited curb access in congested areas — one reason Waymo had $65,000 in parking tickets last year in San Francisco.
• Wait times tend to be longer than Uber or Lyft because the fleet size is still relatively small. My longest wait time was 21 minutes, but typically it was under 10 minutes.
• The cars were clean, but one smelled faintly of dirty diapers and another smelled like weed, raising questions about maintenance when there's no human driver to monitor such things.
• A Waymo spokesperson explained later that the system is designed to freshen the cabin for the next passenger with a blast of air from the HVAC system.

The robotic Waymo Driver accelerates and brakes gently, so it's possible to work in the backseat without getting carsick.

• It's cautious, but not to a fault. It'll drive through a yellow light, for example, but it'll also slow for pedestrians and bikers.

Zoom in: One fascinating incident occurred when the car hit a pothole unexpectedly, causing a large "thunk." The impact was severe enough that the car pulled over to assess the damage.

• A message on the rear seat display, and on my phone, advised me that remote specialists were monitoring the issue.
• "Our team is aware of the interruption to your ride. Please keep your seat belt fastened and remain in the car unless there's an urgent need to exit."
• In less than 30 seconds, we were on our way again.
• At least now I know what to expect if something ever goes wrong in a driverless taxi.

💭 Thought bubble: I feel safer in a robotaxi that doesn't speed or weave through traffic.

• And I enjoy the solace of my own thoughts, rather than having to listen to some unknown driver's personal rants or taste in music.
• But for someone with a disability or a lot of luggage, it's nice to have help sometimes.

The bottom line: Overall, Waymo offered an excellent customer experience, but I wondered how it would be if the previous rider left behind a tuna fish sandwich.

Editor's note: This story was corrected to remove a reference to Tesla and Zoox vehicles requiring human supervision, and to note that both companies have yet to fully launch driverless taxi services.