I Was Driven by a Waymo - and I've Never Felt More 'in the Future'
I'd take these Robots over Skynet any day.
Back when I was in Cupertino for WWDC 2026 in June, there were two things I wanted to do: visit Red Lobster for a Seafood Boil and take a Waymo, a driverless car. I managed to achieve one of those things, and even as I write this, I'm still hungry for more.
Roughly established in 2009 as a Google project, Waymo is now a taxi service operating in several U.S. cities, as well as being in testing for a rollout in London and parts of Japan. It's just like ordering an Uber or another taxi from an app. Available on iOS and Android, you type in where you want to go, it gives you a price, and if you're happy with the estimated arrival time given, you pay with your card and await the Waymo.
Like me, I imagine you've also seen the horror stories on the news and social media of driverless cars going too fast or missing stop signs, or even causing a death. But in my experience, after taking three journeys, I came away impressed.
An app a day
I was in San Francisco for four days from Sunday to Wednesday, and after watching the WWDC 2026 keynote at CommunityKit, I spent the rest of the day trying to get rid of the jet lag from the previous day. But once Tuesday came around, I decided to request a Waymo after the Denny's breakfast to see how it would be.
First off, the app's great. You type in where you want to go, and if it's within Waymo's area, it'll give you an estimated time of when a car will arrive and how much the journey will be. There's no way of using PayPal, just Apple Pay or a card on iPhone - but once I paid, I was shown where the car was.
There are some great accessibility options here, too. Audio cues can be enabled to give a passenger descriptions of what's happening during the journey, as well as where to find certain controls. There are also wheelchair-accessible vehicles available, and Waymo Support will arrange one for you.
After roughly 20 minutes, a push notification appeared that the car was very near. As I waited outside, I saw this Jaguar car with plenty of sensors and what looked like a beacon on the top, showing my initials, oddly reminding me of the Bat Signal.
A little touch I liked was that the car is still locked until you use the app to unlock it. On the third and final journey, it gave me the option to test out a feature that unlocked the car once I was close to it. As soon as I got in, a voice greeted me by name, which was a nice change. For years, computer voices would say 'Daryl' in slow, broken English, but here, it sounded natural.
Once I was ready to go, I pressed 'Start Ride' and the car took off, and it felt surreal.
On the Waymo
At first, I was fine. The car pulled away, it was playing calming music, and the screen next to the steering wheel let me know how long the journey would take. I could look at the same on my phone and see the upcoming route. Once the car was on a main road and it indicated, turned a corner, waited in traffic, my head kept saying, 'None of this is right.'
That urge to say 'Been busy?' to the driver was still there. So was the temptation to not put my AirPods in so I didn't want to seem rude. But to whom? Both quickly went away when I looked at the steering wheel turning by itself again.
The display in front of me let me control various things in the car - from the air con to radio stations, as well as having two USB-C ports to charge my devices. I could sign in with my YouTube Music or Spotify accounts, letting me play part of the Spiceworld album on the way to CommunityKit - but I held off. There was a 'support' button too, which meant I could speak to someone directly if needed, but nothing led me to that.
Everything felt natural - there was no concern once the car reached the hotel for CommunityKit. Only one thing happened during these three journeys - the car indicated at a wrong turn - which was lucky as there was no traffic in that area in the morning. But it quickly corrected itself and drove forward.
Overall, I was left impressed by Waymo after the initial journey, but I wouldn't use it as my main way of getting a taxi. It gave me an idea of how driverless cars could work across the UK, especially in smaller cities like Lincoln and Nottingham. Once they're available to hail in London, that's sure to be an experience in itself, due to the constant heavy traffic and unpredictability of pedestrians in the city, especially from my experience. But it's something to try out, at least.
If it's your first time in a Waymo, you're going to wonder if the car knows where it's going, and if it can spot the other vehicles, as well as any traffic lights, and when it changes lanes. But after the first journey, you'll be at ease. It's an impressive system, and for those who simply don't want to talk to someone after a long day or during a rush, it's perfect.
I don't believe they'll replace the taxis we've all long become accustomed to, but for those short journeys to get from one side of a city to another whilst you listen to your Spotify playlists, it's one to consider if they're available near you.
