The white Jaguar with a bulky top headed toward me on the busy streets of Austin, Texas. About a block away, it stopped at a stop sign. There were no cars at the cross street, so the electric vehicle proceeded to move and rolled to a stop right in front of me, turning on its hazard lights.
Welcome to Waymo One, a self-driving car service owned by Google parent company Alphabet. And on one Tuesday morning, it was my Uber ride as well.
Alphabet’s autonomous vehicle (AV) division, Waymo, has partnered with Uber to bring self-driving cars to the public. It is available in Phoenix. Last week, it began deploying in Austin, with Atlanta coming next.
Uber offered to let me try it, accompanied by spokesman Conor Ferguson. He said Uber has partnered with other AV companies as well to offer rides.
To call an AV, riders have to enable autonomous cars in the Uber app. However, there’s no guarantee you’ll get a Waymo. It works like a regular Uber ride; you don’t know which driver you’ll be getting. Waymo is available on UberX, Uber Green, Uber Comfort or Uber Comfort Electric.
The cost is the same as an Uber ride, except no tipping. Cars are available 24/7, only returning to Uber’s home base for maintenance and charging. (Alternatively, you can order it on the Waymo One app in San Francisco, Phoenix and Los Angeles. In Austin, it’s only available through Uber.)
Read more: Waymo to Test Autonomous Vehicles in 10 New Cities in 2025
Initial Jitters
My first dilemma: How do I open the door? The door handles on the Jaguar I-PACE are flush with the car door, like the retractable ones on Teslas. It turns out riders have to use the Uber app. Click. The door handles come out.
As you get into the car, Waymo greets you by name. Inside, it looks like a typical car interior, with leather seats. There’s a console in between the front seats where the rider can start the ride, change or add stops to the destination and even choose the music channel.
There is no human driver, which caused a moment of concern, then wonder. If anyone tries to sit in the driver’s seat or touch the steering wheel and other controls, the ride will stop. If a rider is uncomfortable, they can press the “pull over” or “support” button.
Waymo is able to traverse a 37-mile radius around downtown Austin as a fully autonomous vehicle — no human drivers or fleet managers behind the scenes. But it doesn’t drive on freeways and, for some reason, cannot go to most airports, according to Ferguson.
In a pleasant female voice, Waymo reminds passengers to put on seat belts, and away we went. My initial reaction was, “How safe is this ride?” But a few minutes into the ride, as I saw how deftly Waymo was driving, I relaxed and thought, “I can get used to this.”
Waymo slowed down at speed bumps, put on turn signals and stopped at traffic signals. On my ride, it drove as fast as 35 miles per hour on city streets. I was surprised by this; I thought self-driving cars would be slow to maximize safety, like my experience with a robotaxi in Florida. The Waymo car accelerated and slowed down like a human driver.
The inside console shows you the route you’re on and its surroundings in real time, including nearby vehicles, a cyclist passing the car, stop signs and some landmarks. It shows you what Waymo is seeing — in the muted greys and blues of a digital map, with your route in green.
Waymo “sees” through the LiDAR sensors on top of the car, which resemble a bulky crown. They constantly spin and use laser light to create a 3D map of the surroundings. The LiDAR emits laser pulses and measures the time it takes to bounce back from objects to create the map. Waymo also uses cameras and radar sensors to help with navigation and object detection.
After the ride, Waymo reminds you to gather your belongings because “your future self will thank you.”
Read more: Wayve Reportedly Ready to Roll Out Self-Driving Tech
Waymo vs Cruise and Tesla
Waymo is the most advanced autonomous vehicle company offering rides to the public. Its cars operate at Level 4, where the car can drive itself but is restricted to an area, according to a definition of autonomous levels by the National Highway Traffic Administration. That means no human drivers are guiding the vehicle, either in the car or remotely.
Level 5 is the highest level of vehicle automation: That means the car can drive itself anywhere, under all conditions and types of roads. There is no need for human intervention. Many companies are racing to get to Level 5.
Cruise said it reached Level 4 autonomy, although human operators did monitor the ride remotely, according to The New York Times. After some high-profile accidents, Cruise was shut down by GM, which acquired the startup in 2016. GM reportedly plowed about $10 billion into Cruise.
Meanwhile, Waymo has raised a total of $11 billion as of last October, according to CNBC. Alphabet committed to $5 billion.
Tesla, despite offering a full self-driving (FSD) feature to customers, only operates at a Level 2 autonomy — meaning the car will assist the driver with acceleration, braking and steering but the drive remains engaged. Company CEO Elon Musk famously dislikes LiDAR and chose to use only cameras for Teslas. However, The Verge reports that Tesla has been buying up LiDAR sensors.
Business Insider said Tesla has hired a lot of in-house autonomous test drivers to fulfill Musk’s promise of bringing a robotaxi to market this year.
Deborah Yao, AI senior editor at PYMNTS, is the reviewer of the Uber-Waymo ride.
