FAQ – Waymo

General

What is Waymo?: Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company with a mission to make it safe and easy for people and things to get where they’re going. Since our start as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009, Waymo has been focused on building the Waymo Driver - the World’s Most Experienced Driver^TM to improve everyone's access to mobility while saving thousands of lives now lost to traffic crashes.
Why is Waymo working on fully autonomous vehicles?: We’re committed to developing fully autonomous vehicles because we believe that this is safer and better for all those who share our roads.

Around the world, over 1.35 million people die on our roadways annually. In the US alone, traffic collisions kill over 35,000 people a year. In the U.S., 94% of crashes involve human error or choice, and this is one place where we believe we really can bring technology to bear. Autonomously driven vehicles could also help people who can't drive—whether elderly, blind, or disabled—to get around and do the things they love.

In addition, truck crashes cause 4,000 deaths and a further 110,000 people are injured in commercial truck-related crashes annually in the U.S. With Waymo Via, we’re hoping to make highways safer by integrating the Waymo Driver to operate commercial trucks.
What types of vehicles do you have on the road?: Our fleet of autonomously driven vehicles has included modified Toyota Priuses, Lexus SUVs, a custom-built prototype vehicle (nicknamed "Firefly"), and our fully autonomous Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans. The Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans are our first vehicles built on a mass-production platform with a fully-integrated hardware suite, newly designed by Waymo for the purpose of full autonomy.

Most recently, we’ve partnered with Jaguar and leveraged their I-PACE platform to create the world's first premium electric autonomously driven vehicle. We’re currently testing these vehicles.

With Waymo Via, we're also integrating Class 8 trucks with the Waymo Driver to operate autonomously. This includes combining the World’s Most Experienced Driver^TM with Daimler’s Freightliner Cascadia to enable fully autonomous truck driving.
What is Waymo Via?: Waymo Via is our autonomous driving solution for moving goods. Currently we are testing Class 8 Heavy duty trucks that are operated by the Waymo Driver in California, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico. We're also testing local delivery in Arizona with our fleet of autonomously driven Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans Learn more.
What is the Waymo Driver?: At Waymo, we're focused on building the Waymo Driver, which is how we refer to our autonomous driving technology. There are two pieces to the Waymo Driver: hardware and software. On the hardware side, we have a sensor suite that includes lidar, cameras, radar, and a powerful AI compute platform. Collectively, they provide a 360 degree view of the world. On the software side, we take all of the information our sensors collect to answer four key questions: Where am I? What’s around me? What will happen next? And what should I do? Together, our hardware and software work in concert to paint a complete picture of the world around the car and enable us to navigate roads safely.

Riding With Waymo One

What is Waymo One?: Waymo One is our fully public, fully autonomous ride hailing service. Now anyone can take fully autonomous rides anytime they're in Metro Phoenix. Just download the Waymo One app and ride right away.

Riders can use the Waymo One app to hail one of our fully autonomous cars operated by the Waymo Driver, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They can use it to get around several cities in the Metro Phoenix area. Whether it's for a fun night out or just to get a break from driving, our riders get the same clean vehicle every time and a driver with over 20 million miles of experience on public roads.
What is the Waymo One Trusted Tester program?: The Trusted Tester program is a confidential research program within Waymo One, where select riders will have access to our autonomous ride-hailing service and can share their experiences directly with our team to help shape the future of autonomous driving.
Where does Waymo One operate?: Our Waymo One fully autonomous ride-hailing service operates within parts of the Phoenix metropolitan area, including Chandler, Tempe, Mesa and Gilbert. Our service operates around the clock, seven days a week. Riders can travel anywhere in our territory day and night.

In San Francisco, we operate the Waymo One Trusted Tester program, where select riders will have access to our autonomous ride-hailing service and can share their experiences directly with our team to help shape the future of autonomous driving.
Which cars will I ride in?: Anyone in the Metro Phoenix area has access to Waymo’s fleet of fully autonomous cars operated by the Waymo Driver, including our Chrysler Pacifica Hybrid minivans.

In San Francisco, riders in our Trusted Tester program have access to the world's first premium electric autonomously driven vehicle: the Jaguar I-PACE.
In Phoenix, I've noticed that there was no vehicle operator in the front seat. Are some of your vehicles fully autonomous?: Yes. Our Waymo One vehicles are now fully autonomous. That means no one is in the driver's seat when you ride with us.
When can I ride with Waymo outside of Metro Phoenix?: Waymo One is currently available in the East Valley of Phoenix Arizona, including Chandler, Gilbert, Mesa and Tempe. Residents of San Francisco can also participate in the Trusted Tester program, a confidential research program within Waymo One, where select riders will have access to our service and can share their experiences directly with our team to help shape the future of autonomous driving. To express interest in participating in the Trusted Tester program as well as other Waymo research, simply download the Waymo One app and follow the instructions. To stay up to date on our progress, please follow our blog and Twitter. You can also sign up for updates from Waymo.
In San Francisco, I’ve noticed that there is someone from Waymo in the front seat. Is the vehicle driving autonomously?: In our Trusted Tester program, our vehicles are primarily driving autonomously. You’ll notice that our cars have autonomous specialists riding in the driver’s seat. These specialists are there to monitor our autonomous driving technology and share important feedback to help us improve the Waymo One experience.
Need assistance with an item you may have left behind in a Waymo vehicle?: Our Rider Support team is happy to help reunite you with your lost item. Please contact us here.

Requests

Can you expand testing to my city or country?: We hope to bring the ease and safety of autonomous cars to as many people as we can. We can't yet say where we're headed next, but we do look forward to bringing our technology to new cities as soon as possible.
Can I provide feedback on how the cars drive on the road?: Your feedback is important to us. If you've seen us on the road and would like to provide feedback on how we drive, please contact us and tell us about your experience.

If you are a Waymo One rider and would like to provide feedback on your service experience, please reach out to our Rider Support team via the app.
I'd like to join the team. Where can I find a list of open roles?: You can learn more about available roles here.
Can you come to my event, conference, school or company?: We can't accommodate most appearance requests due to our busy development and testing schedules. For special requests, please use our contact form. Please note that we aren't able to respond to all inquiries.
Can you help me with my school or research project?: Good luck with your project! Everything we have to share is available on this website and on our blog, so they're the best places to look for details on Waymo. We can't provide any other information at the moment.
How can I join the Trusted Tester program in San Francisco?: If you live in San Francisco, and you'd like to express interest in participating in the Trusted Tester program as well as other Waymo research initiatives, just download the Waymo One app and follow the instructions.