🚗 Riding Waymo in San Francisco: Our Experience
If you’ve ever wondered what it’s like to ride in a car with no driver… this is your chance.
During our trip to San Francisco, we booked a ride with Waymo—and it was easily one of the most unique parts of our trip.
Watching the steering wheel turn by itself while the car smoothly navigated city streets honestly felt surreal at first. Within a few minutes, though, it started to feel surprisingly normal.
🤖 What is Waymo?
Waymo is a fully autonomous ride service developed by Alphabet (parent company of Google) that uses cameras, sensors, radar, and AI technology to drive without a human behind the wheel.
Unlike traditional ride shares, there’s no driver in the front seat — just you, your passengers, and a car that handles everything on its own.
📱 How to Book a Waymo Ride
Booking a ride was honestly easier than we expected:
- Download the Waymo One app
- Request a ride similar to Uber or Lyft
- Walk to the pickup location
- Unlock the car using your phone
- Hop in and press Start Ride
When the car arrived, it had Matt’s initials on the roof screen. As we entered the car, it said, “Hello, Matthew.” So fun! The car even gives updates during the drive.
🚘 What It Actually Feels Like
A few things we noticed right away:
- The ride was incredibly smooth
- The car drove cautiously but confidently
- It handled pedestrians, bikes, hills, and traffic surprisingly well
- Seeing the wheel turn with nobody touching it is wild
- The silence without a driver changes the whole atmosphere
Here’s a little sneak peek of our Waymo ride experience!
At first we kept looking at each other like “this cannot be real,” but after a few blocks it honestly just felt… normal. Which might be the craziest part.
One moment that stood out was watching the car navigate busy intersections near downtown San Francisco completely on its own. It stopped naturally for pedestrians and merged into traffic more smoothly than some human drivers we’ve had.
In this ride share, YOU get to control the radio!! This is especially important since we’ve been noticing lately that every so many Uber/Lyft drivers are pushing their political/religious views through the podcast they have playing in the car. We make sure to include that information in our review of the ride.
💰 Is Waymo Expensive?
For us, pricing was slightly higher, but still comparable to a regular rideshare, depending on distance and time of day. We mostly booked it for the experience, but we’d consider using it again.
ENJOYING THIS POST? SEE ALL OF OUR TRAVEL ADVENTURES!!
👍 Is It Worth It?
Absolutely — especially if it’s your first time visiting San Francisco.
Even if you only take one ride, it’s one of those experiences that genuinely feels like stepping into the future. Between the hills, city traffic, and nonstop movement around San Francisco, it’s probably one of the most interesting places to try autonomous transportation for the first time.
Do I still support human drivers? Yes. We use human-driven ride shares frequently. This was a “we’ve gotta try this” moment.
Have you ridden in a driverless car yet… or would you?
Watch our Waymo ride and our entire 30 Hour visit to San Francisco, or read about it here!
