The Top 5 Things to Know About Waymo (And the Rise of Driverless Cars)
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If you live in cities like Phoenix, San Francisco, or Los Angeles, chances are you’ve already seen a car driving down the street with nobody behind the wheel. If you haven’t seen one yet, you’ve almost certainly heard about them.
These vehicles are part of the autonomous ride-hailing service operated by Waymo—and believe it or not, driverless cars have been operating on public roads for more than a decade. Today, Waymo vehicles have logged over 200 million autonomous miles and delivered more than 20 million passenger rides, with roughly 400,000 paid trips happening every week across its operating cities.
These cities (and others shortly) already have robotaxis picking up riders daily. But despite their growing presence, most people still have the same questions:
- What exactly is Waymo?
- How do these cars actually drive themselves?
- Are they really safe?
- And are they the future of transportation?
While Waymo is currently the clear leader in autonomous taxis, it isn’t the only company racing toward a driverless future. Competitors like Zoox, Tesla, and Aurora Innovation are also investing billions to develop their own systems.
So let’s break it down. Here are the Top 5 Things to Know about Waymo from ThinkFives and AI.
What Waymo Is?
At its core, Waymo is a robotaxi company—a ride-hailing service where software drives the vehicle instead of a human.
The company began as the Google Self-Driving Car Project inside Google in 2009. In 2016, it spun off as its own company under Alphabet Inc.
Today, Waymo operates a service called Waymo One, where riders request a fully autonomous vehicle using a smartphone app, similar to how people use Uber or Lyft.
But Waymo is far from alone in this race. Other major players include:
- Zoox – owned by Amazon and building purpose-built robotaxis without steering wheels.
- Tesla – pursuing self-driving capabilities using camera-based AI.
- Aurora Innovation – focused on autonomous trucking and logistics.
- Nuro – specializing in driverless delivery vehicles.
The race to build safe and scalable driverless transportation is often called the “robotaxi wars,” and billions of dollars are being invested to win it.
The History of Waymo
The story of Waymo starts with a robotics competition.
In the early 2000s, engineers working on the DARPA Grand Challenge began experimenting with autonomous vehicles capable of navigating desert courses without human drivers. Many of the researchers involved later joined Google.
In 2009, Google quietly launched its self-driving car project. Within a year, prototypes were already driving on California roads.
Some major milestones include:
- 2009 – Google begins self-driving research
- 2010 – First public announcement of autonomous testing
- 2016 – Waymo officially becomes its own company
- 2020 – Launch of the first commercial driverless ride service without safety drivers
Since then, the company has raised more than $16 billion in funding and is now valued at roughly $126 billion, showing just how seriously investors view autonomous transportation.
How Waymo Cars Actually Drive Themselves
A Waymo vehicle looks like a normal car at first glance, but the technology inside is anything but ordinary. Each vehicle is equipped with a system called the “Waymo Driver,” which uses multiple layers of sensors and AI software to navigate the world.
The main components include:
1. Lidar
Laser sensors that create a detailed 3D map of the environment.
2. Cameras
High-resolution cameras that detect traffic lights, pedestrians, cyclists, and road signs.
3. Radar
Sensors that track objects and movement, especially in poor visibility.
4. High-definition maps
Waymo vehicles drive using extremely detailed maps that include lane markings, intersections, and road features.
Together, these systems create a 360-degree view of the world around the vehicle. The onboard computer constantly predicts how nearby vehicles, cyclists, and pedestrians might move next.
In essence, the car is continuously running thousands of tiny driving simulations every second to decide what to do.
Are Waymo Vehicles Actually Safe?
Safety is the most common question people ask about driverless cars—and for good reason.
Waymo has attempted to answer this question with enormous amounts of data. The company reports that its vehicles have driven over 200 million autonomous miles on public roads and billions more in simulation.
In one peer-reviewed analysis comparing autonomous driving to human drivers, Waymo vehicles showed:
- 92% fewer pedestrian injury crashes
- 82% fewer cyclist and motorcyclist injuries
- 96% fewer intersection crashes
Early in development, engineers created difficult internal driving tests—sometimes jokingly referred to as challenges like “Larry’s 100,000-mile test”—where vehicles had to prove themselves on extremely complex routes before expanding to new cities. This included San Francisco to Mountain View, Pacific Coast Highway 1 and Lake Tahoe’s mountain roads.
Of course, the technology isn’t perfect. There have been incidents, investigations, and critics who argue autonomous vehicles still need further testing. But the overall safety data continues to improve as the systems gain more real-world experience.
The Future of Driverless Cars
Today, Waymo operates commercial robotaxi services in multiple U.S. cities, including:
- Atlanta
- Phoenix
- San Francisco
- Los Angeles
- Austin
The company currently provides hundreds of thousands of rides per week and is aiming to reach one million rides per week as expansion continues.
Trucks
Waymo already has a division called Waymo Via focused on autonomous trucking. The focus is on long-haul freight routes and trucks are typically Class 8 semi-trucks. Major tests have occurred in Texas, Arizona, and California. The idea is that highways are easier environments for autonomy than cities.
Tesla’s Approach
Tesla is taking a very different approach from companies like Waymo. Instead of relying on lidar and expensive sensor arrays, Tesla focuses primarily on camera-based artificial intelligence to interpret the world around the vehicle.
Tesla believes that, much like humans, cars should be able to drive using vision and neural networks rather than complex sensor systems. Tesla has also announced a purpose-built robotaxi known as the Cybercab, designed specifically for autonomous ride-hailing fleets.
Tesla has stated that it plans to deploy robotaxis in multiple cities by mid-2026, although the company has historically been optimistic with its timelines for autonomous driving technology.
Consumers
Many companies are planning for a future where autonomous vehicles aren’t just ride-hailing fleets but something consumers can own or share. Several possible models are already being discussed by automakers and mobility startups.
Consumers could simply buy a fully autonomous car that drives itself.
- No human driver required
- Handles commuting, errands, and travel automatically
- Similar to owning a traditional car, but with autonomous capability
Interestingly, your personal vehicle could earn money when you’re not using it.
- The car drops you off at work
- Then it provides autonomous rides to other passengers during the day
- Revenue is shared with the owner
Future
At the same time, big questions remain about regulation, urban planning, and how quickly people will trust the technology. One thing is certain: driverless cars are no longer science fiction. They’re already here—and they’re only getting started.
Will you try a driverless car?