"Robotaxis are becoming common in some big US cities"
I took my first Waymo robotaxi ride during a trip to San Francisco. I was shocked by the cost compared to Uber and Lyft.©Alex Bitter/BI
- Driverless cars are spreading to more US cities.
- Many are run by Waymo, both directly and through a partnership with Uber.
- I hailed a ride in a Waymo car in San Francisco to see what it's like.
Robotaxis are becoming common in some big US cities, but they're still novelties in many.
In Atlanta and Austin, for instance, companies like Uber and Lyft started offering rides in driverless cars earlier this year, but some riders have told me they've had to go out of their way to hail one. Where I live, in Washington, DC, you can spot self-driving cars on the road — Google's Waymo, for one, is testing them in the market — but they're not yet available to customers.
In San Francisco, meanwhile, self-driving cars are everywhere.
On a trip there last week, I couldn't walk around the areas like Union Square and Market Street in the city center without seeing a car drive by without anyone at the wheel.
It was a strange sight for me, but I shouldn't have been surprised. Waymo has been operating driverless rides in San Francisco since 2022, and the company opened the service up to anyone who downloads its app in the city last year.
After days of seeing robotaxis pass me on the street, I decided to hail a Waymo car and see what it's like to ride one in a city where they've become so ubiquitous. Here's what I found.
As I waited, I saw several other Waymo vehicles drive by.©Alex Bitter/BI
Self-driving cars, especially ones operated by Waymo, are everywhere in the center of San Francisco.
During the six-minute wait for my ride, I noticed at least a half-dozen other Waymo vehicles drive by, including two right next to each other. Going around town over the previous couple of days, I found out how hard it was to even walk around a city block without seeing at least one or two self-driving cars.
I took my first Waymo robotaxi ride during a trip to San Francisco. I was shocked by the cost compared to Uber and Lyft. |
