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The dashboard of a Waymo Jaguar I-Pace driverless taxi.<\/p>\n
Richard A. Marini\/Staff<\/p>\n
I’d been in the taxi for only a few minutes when my stomach did a flip-flop: Heading to an early morning workout, I realized I’d inadvertently left my gym bag, complete with my wallet and keys, on my car’s hood in the parking lot where the taxi had picked me up. I needed to go back and get them \u2014\u00a0stat! \u2014 before someone grabbed my bag.\u00a0<\/p>\n
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But how to do that? In the Before Times, I’d simply instruct the driver to turn around and go back to my car.<\/p>\n
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But it’s 2026 and I was in a\u00a0Waymo driverless taxi. There was no driver at the wheel. No one to ask to return me to where we’d started so I could get my forgotten bag \u2014 assuming it was still there.<\/p>\n
This was my first-ever Waymo ride and prior to taking it, I’d tried to familiarized myself with the company’s smartphone app. But I hadn’t drilled deep enough to find anything like a Go Back command. Instead, I tapped the Pull Over button, an order the taxi dutifully obeyed and, after poking around the app some more, decided my best play was to cancel my current ride and request a new one back to where I started.<\/p>\n
Features Reporter Richard A. Marini tests out driverless taxi service Waymo in San Antonio.<\/p>\n
Richard A. Marini\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Fortunately, my bag was still there when we arrived. I grabbed it and ordered a new ride \u2014 my original car had already disappeared into the darkness \u2014 arriving at my destination only a few minutes late.<\/p>\n
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Quite the beginning to my experiment in autonomous driving. Over the next two days I took five Waymo rides, each time arriving unscathed and mostly more relaxed than if I’d driven myself. I could get used to this.<\/p>\n
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A Waymo robotaxi arrives outside of San Antonio City Hall.\u00a0<\/p>\n
Brandon Lingle\/San Antonio Express-News<\/p>\n
Autonomous vehicles appear to be on the verge of some great advances, according to Ashim Bose,\u00a0professor of practice at the University of Texas at Dallas’ Jindal School of Management.<\/p>\n
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“There’s a lot of investment being made in the technology, but at the end of the day the adoption depends on whether it’s economically viable,” said Bose, who has studied, taught and worked in both artificial intelligence and transportation. “When you think about the convenience of driverless vehicles, it takes the economics to the next level. So I think these vehicles are here to stay.”<\/p>\n
He notes that, while these cars don’t have a perfect safety record,<\/a> they are generally safer<\/a> than human-driven vehicles.\u00a0<\/p>\n A 2024 report in the journal Nature Communications,<\/a> for example, found that driverless vehicles such as\u00a0Waymos were 92% less likely to be involved in crashes that result in pedestrian injuries, although they also have a higher risk of crashing in more challenging situations, such as at dawn or dusk or while making left turns.<\/p>\n Still, when unmanned vehicles go rogue, it makes news. On Wednesday, for example, a Waymo robotaxi was recorded\u00a0driving the wrong way on a temporary one-way street while in a school zone.<\/a> Chris Bonelli, Waymo’s product communications manager said that after receiving a report about the incident from police, the company has made changes to where the cars can and cannot drive at certain times of the day to account for\u00a0temporary one-way traffic patterns.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Interior screens update riders about where they are, when they’ll arrive, even nearby vehicles and pedestrians.<\/p>\n Richard A. Marini\/Staff<\/p>\n Here’s what you need to know about\u00a0Waymo.<\/p>\n PIT STOPS: Waymos spotted parking on residential streets between tasks<\/a><\/p>\n What is Waymo?<\/p>\n A spinoff of Google, Waymo is one of a number of companies that are, or are working toward, operating fully autonomous robotaxis that can take you where you want to go without the help of a human driver. These\u00a0include several efforts backed by heavyweights<\/a> such as General Motors, Tesla Amazon and Toyota.\u00a0<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Waymo cars, which have been around for several months “learning” the lay of the land and have been ferrying paying passengers since February, bristle with technology \u2014 light sensors, radar, cameras, AI \u2014 to navigate roadways.\u00a0<\/p>\n The company has dozens of vehicles, all electric Jaguar I-Paces, serving tens of thousands of San Antonio riders, according to Bonelli.<\/p>\n Hands off! This car can drive itself.<\/p>\n Richard A. Marini\/Staff<\/p>\n How does it work?<\/p>\n All of your interactions with\u00a0Waymo, from calling for pickup to adjusting the car cabin temperature, are controlled by the Waymo smartphone app.<\/a> Because the company is rolling out its service slowly, a redemption code currently is necessary to set up an account. To get a code, you must first set up an account on the app, after which, as the system expands, you’ll eventually get an invitation to join. Valid codes are also occasionally available on sites such as\u00a0Reddit community r\/waymo.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n Bonelli said the company hopes to offer open membership “in the near future.”<\/p>\n How much does it cost?<\/p>\n Waymo charges a base fare and then uses dynamic pricing, meaning more during busy times, less when demand is low, to determine a ride’s final cost. One weekday, for example, I paid $16.51 to ride 3.1 miles from\u00a0Adair Kitchen on Broadway to the Lincoln Heights shopping center. According to the website Taxifarefinder.com,<\/a> the same ride in a yellow taxi would cost $11.12, including tip. On Saturday morning it cost $30.39 to take Waymo 6.8 miles from Wonderland Mall to the\u00a0Olmos Soccer Fields. TaxiFareFinder pegs the cost of that trip $20.56.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n Waymo’s coverage area recently expanded to include San Antonio International Airport.<\/p>\n Screen grab<\/p>\n Where can\u00a0you go?<\/p>\n Waymo is currently operating in 10 U.S. cities, including Houston, Dallas, Austin and San Antonio. Locally, the 60-square-mile service area extends roughly from Interstate 10 on the south and west and Loop 410 to the north and east. The company\u00a0recently expanded coverage to San Antonio International Airport,<\/a> making it the first Texas airport to have such service. Coverage should continue to expand until, eventually, taxis offer\u00a0intercity service. In California, for example, you can already take Waymo the 50 miles between San Francisco and San Jose.<\/p>\n Article continues below this ad<\/p>\n At the moment, however, my house sits outside the Waymo service area, so I had to drive several miles before I could summon a taxi. At-home pickup would have been much more convenient.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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