{"id":233629,"date":"2026-04-16T02:20:45","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:20:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233629\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T02:20:45","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T02:20:45","slug":"waymo-expands-driverless-ride-hailing-to-all-orlando-riders-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/233629\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo expands driverless ride-hailing to all Orlando riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 After welcoming more than 60,000 riders<\/a> in Orlando, Waymo<\/a> is making its autonomous ride-hailing service available to everyone. <\/p>\n

Starting Wednesday, the Waymo app will be fully open to anyone in the Orlando area.<\/p>\n

When Waymo launched in February, it operated an early access phase and was invite-only to users. <\/p>\n

The rollout marks a significant milestone for Central Florida, where driverless vehicles are now operating on public roads covering 60 square miles, including downtown Orlando and the tourism district. <\/p>\n

[TIMELINE: Waymo makes its way to Orlando. Here\u2019s the company\u2019s journey<\/a>]<\/p>\n

Officials said the phased approach is intended to ensure safety while building public confidence in the technology.<\/p>\n

[WATCH: Trooper Steve on Patrol rides in a Waymo]<\/p>\n

Waymo vehicles use cameras, radar, lidar sensors, and artificial intelligence to navigate without human input. <\/p>\n

Supporters say the technology could reduce crashes caused by human error, which account for the majority of traffic collisions, and expand mobility for people who cannot drive.<\/p>\n

NEWS 6 TESTS IT OUT<\/p>\n

To see what that looks like in real life, News 6\u2019s Alex Cook booked a Waymo from Icon Park to SeaWorld, then took an Uber back to compare the price, travel time and overall experience.<\/p>\n

Waymo says riders in Orlando can now download the app and request a fully autonomous ride right away. The company\u2019s FAQ lists Orlando among the cities where anyone can ride immediately. <\/p>\n

When the Waymo arrived, there was no one in the driver\u2019s seat. The all-electric Jaguar I-PACE unlocked through the app, greeted Cook by name and then began the trip to SeaWorld. Waymo says its riders use Jaguar I-PACE vehicles and that trips in Orlando are available through the Waymo app. <\/p>\n

News 6’s Alex Cook rides in a driverless Waymo vehicle, putting it through its paces. (Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

The ride took about 20 minutes and cost $11.80.<\/p>\n

Cook then requested an Uber for the trip back to Icon Park. That return ride cost $8.98 and took about the same amount of time.<\/p>\n

One of the biggest differences was not speed. It was flexibility.<\/p>\n

Waymo does not always pick riders up or drop them off at any exact curb they choose. The company\u2019s help pages say riders select from available pickup and dropoff options shown in the app, and may need to walk to a designated spot along the highlighted blue lines. <\/p>\n

The other difference was human.<\/p>\n

During the Uber ride back, Cook asked the driver what he thought about Waymo.<\/p>\n

\u201cI hate them,\u201d the driver said. He said it was because they\u2019re doing his job.<\/p>\n

Waymo said Wednesday that more than 150,000 riders from its initial interest lists in Orlando and Miami had already taken trips over the past few months before the service opened to everyone. <\/p>\n

For this test, the Waymo and Uber rides were close in both price and travel time. But while the driverless ride felt polished and surprisingly routine, it still came with more limits on where it could pick up and drop off riders. <\/p>\n

Breaking News Alerts<\/p>\n

Get breaking news alerts delivered to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by WKMG ClickOrlando – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"ORLANDO, Fla. \u2013 After welcoming more than 60,000 riders in Orlando, Waymo is making its autonomous ride-hailing service…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":167048,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11],"tags":[1335,139,141,140,1576,729,24480],"class_list":["post-233629","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-orlando","tag-orange-county","tag-orlando","tag-orlando-headlines","tag-orlando-news","tag-technology","tag-traffic","tag-waymo"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233629","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=233629"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/233629\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/167048"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=233629"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=233629"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-fl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=233629"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}