What’s It Like To Ride In A Waymo?

Well, I did it. I said I never would, but I took a ride in a driverless car—a Waymo, to be exact.

Yes, maybe I’m late to the party. Waymo’s are available in most major cities such as San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Atlanta, Miami, Las Vegas, Denver, Nashville, and more. But I think the majority of people have yet to try one, so I thought I’d share my experience with you.

My Fears about Driverless Cars

When I first heard about driverless cars, I said “Hell, no!”

I don’t care if they are statistically safer than most drivers. They can’t predict unpredictable human behavior. Would the car proceed down a street filled with rioters? What if there was a shootout, would the car drive toward that danger? And how would it respond to a natural disaster: would the car know to pull over or stop during a strong earthquake? Would it make the right decision if there was a fire alongside the road or coming down the hill toward you? I think these scenarios need human decision making!

I’ve heard of Waymo’s getting confused in construction zones, and injuring pedestrians; did I really want to take that kind of chance? Yes. Because it was just a ride home from the airport. Here’s how I thought about it:

Why I Decided to take a Waymo

I’m always so nervous taking an Uber or Lyft in California; you never know what kind of driver you will get. The star rating doesn’t help because unless the ride is really bad, everyone gives the driver five stars. And I have to say, the ride-share drivers in my area are a mixed lot. Many of them tailgate, because that’s how most people drive here. I hate that! Or, they drive too fast, or take corners too fast, or the driver doesn’t speak English. I’ve been getting a lot of that lately.

A caveat: I love taking Uber/Lyft in slower-paced areas within the USA. I’ve had great conversations with some drivers and many of them have given me terrific recommendations of places to visit. So this is not a tirade against Uber and Lyft, though I am being critical of rideshare companies in California. 

So, on my last trip to the airport—taking an Uber—I decided I was sick of being nervous riding with a human driver. Why not try a new nerve-racking experience: drive home from the airport in a robotaxi!

Safety First!

Before I hailed a Waymo, I downloaded and read the Waymo app so I could learn what to expect. Then I read about what to do if there’s an emergency and you need to get out of the car. The app needs improvement in that subject. I was left with the impression that the doors only open when you get to your destination. That is not true (I found out by asking Gemini). The Waymo app had way too much information about how to get out of the Ojai model (these are only driven in Mesa, Arizona). Getting out of an Ojai in an emergency seems complicated—at least that’s how it read to me. Like I said, they need to improve the writing within their app.

The Jaguar I-PACE is the model driven everywhere by Waymo outside of Mesa, Arizona. So all you need to remember (unless you live in Mesa) is: To get out of a Waymo, you pull the door handle twice. The first pull unlocks the latch and the second pull opens the door. Easy-Peasy.

You can also call support by using your app or the car’s large touchscreens. This will immediately get you in contact with a live person. For obvious reasons, I did not test this.

Because of the poorly written app (in my opinion), I had my doubts about how to exit in an emergency. I decided to risk it anyway.

The Waymo App

You download the Waymo app and use it about the same way you would use an Uber or Lyft app. Requesting the ride is easy and I won’t go into that here. What I would suggest is that once you get the app, you go to the “My car” tab at the bottom of the screen. You have a choice of three In-car Announcements. Because it was my first time taking a Waymo, I selected Descriptive. This way all messages and where to find controls would be described as I rode. I’m glad I did; it was not annoying. After you’re familiar with riding in a Waymo, you can change your car announcement feature to All or Reduced.

I also selected Automatic Entry Open. It says this is for Ojai cars, but what about the I-PACE? Anyway, I selected it and it worked.

The other features you can select have to do with temperature, screen appearance, and accessibility controls.

The app told me I would be able to open and close doors from the app, but I didn’t see that capability. I had to trust that those features would magically show up. They did. The car pulled up and suddenly I saw the choice to open the door and also the trunk. But I’m getting ahead of myself.

Here Comes my Waymo!

Actually, it was another man’s Waymo. You’re supposed to see your initials on the dome screen on the roof of your car, but they don’t show up till the car pulls up to the curb. No matter, it was good to see another guy get in his first and watch how it worked.

Five minutes later my car showed up. “There are my initials,” I thought. “And here’s the tab to open the door! Where’s the trunk one? Oh, there it is. Will I be able to load my suitcase without the car getting impatient and driving away? Yes! Can I get in, shut the trunk (with the app) and close the door? Yes, with the app.” (Your phone is like another appendage in these cases.) Then I fastened my seatbelt, took a breath, and pressed the equivalent of “Ready to drive.”

My Ride in a Waymo

The first thing I noticed was how clean the car was. It almost had a fresh laundry smell. The temperature was just right at 68°, and there was good air-flow. The car pulled away smoothly and drove to the freeway on-ramp. There was one of those on-ramp signals activated and the car stopped at the red light, but it drove on before it turned green. It shot the gun! (I saw a Waymo doing this once before when I was driving right behind it; it too shot the gun at a freeway on-ramp light.)

Once we were on the freeway, I texted this to my daughter: “This is the calmest I’ve ever felt getting a ride home from the airport. Waymo drives so nice and slowly with lots of distance between cars, like an old grandma.” Then I added, “Although it is braking too soon to exit the freeway. Too much like an old grandma!”

When we exited the freeway, Waymo was supposed to get into one of two right-hand turn lanes. Instead, it got into the left-turn lane. My Waymo ended up turning left, then getting into another left-turn lane to make a u-turn so it could head in the correct direction. There was no reason to not get in the correct right turn lanes to begin with, I just had to conclude that my Waymo made a mistake.

The rest of the ride went smoothly. We pulled up to my home, the engine stopped, and the door and trunk automatically opened (I had set it to do this in the app). I retrieved my luggage and once I was back on the sidewalk, the car drove away. Bye bye Waymo! “How weird that I have no one to thank,” I thought.

To Waymo or not to Waymo, That is the Question

I think that weighing the pros and cons depends on where you live. It also depends on what kind of environment you’ll be driving through.

Pros

• You don’t have to deal with a human driver. Also, the internal cameras and sound are supposedly not watching you.
• It’s cheaper than most ride-shares.
• It’s statistically safer.
• It’s probably a calmer ride and you can control the music and temperature.

Cons

• There is no human interaction and we already are bereft of that with our social media/phone addictions.
• Uncertain how the Waymo would react in an emergency or crime-ridden area.
• Drives like a cautious senior citizen, which may cause other cars to get impatient and pass you recklessly.

My Conclusion

I will take more Waymo’s to and from the airport. There likely won’t be construction zones or crime to pass through, and I think I will be safer taking Waymo. However, when I travel outside of California, I will probably stick with human-driven transportation. It will be more interesting and I’ll probably learn something about the area. Besides–I don’t want to contribute to robots taking over human jobs more than necessary! But I have to say, I did feel safer taking a Waymo home from the airport.