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Austin vibes, meet autonomous rides

Texas State Capitol

Fully autonomous Waymo rides are coming to Austin

We’re new in town, but not to autonomous driving. With over a decade of experience and tens of thousands of happy riders across Phoenix, SF, and LA, we’re ready to get Austinites where they’re going safe and sound with Waymo One.

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How it works

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Testimonials

The fact that Waymo provides convenience, prioritizes safety, and is committed to sustainability makes it by far my favorite mode of transportation.
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Learn why Eva chooses Waymo One

Austin skyline and Colorado River
Waymo surrounded by dot pattern to visualize lidar dot map

The Waymo Driver is our autonomous driving technology with unmatched experience and safety at heart

  • 20 Million Miles

    The Waymo Driver has over 20 million miles of real-world driving experience through countless situations - the equivalent of driving to the Moon and back 40 times.

  • Safety First

    We follow a rigorous safety framework that combines multiple methods that help verify and validate our safety readiness and meet applicable laws and regulations.

  • Tens of thousands of riders

    We’ve tested for over a decade in more than ten states, and today we are safely operating a fully autonomous, publicly available ride-hailing service in Phoenix, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

Thank you to our community partners

Learn more about how Waymo partners with the communities where we operate

  • Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired logo

    Waymo works with Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired, giving interactive technology demos as we build our technology for Austinites.

  • Our Shared Kitchen logo

    We’re helping fight hunger by supporting the delivery of freshly prepared meals to food insecure members of our Austin community.

  • Safe Streets Austin logo

    Our engineers met with safety, disability and accessibility advocates to discuss building a safer way to move through Austin.

faqs

  • Hands holding smart phone
    Hands holding smart phone

    How do I sign up to ride in Austin?

    We’re currently welcoming interested riders to join our waitlist. When it’s your turn to ride, we’ll reach out with instructions so you can start taking fully autonomous rides in the Austin territory.

  • Guitar
    Guitar

    Where do you operate locally?

    Waymo is currently operating throughout Austin. Initially, we anticipate that our service will be primarily available to the public in the heart of downtown, Barton Hills, Riverside, East Austin, Hyde Park and more. Over time our service will expand to include more regions.

  • How does the autonomous vehicle work?

    Our vehicles use a combination of software and sensors — including cameras, radar, and lidar — to understand their surroundings and drive autonomously. Learn more about the Waymo Driver, our autonomous driving technology. Learn more about the Waymo Driver, our autonomous driving technology.

  • What safety 
measures do you employ?

    We follow a rigorous safety framework that combines multiple methods to help verify and validate our safety readiness and meet applicable laws and regulations.

  • Cyclist
    Cyclist

    How do your cars know how to share the road with cyclists?

    Many of us are cyclists ourselves, and our personal experiences on the road help shape our engineering and product decisions. We also work with local bicycle coalitions to make sure our testing and validation procedures account for a diverse range of scenarios. Our vehicles are equipped with a combination of sensors designed to see 360 degrees around the vehicle, day and night, and our vision system can identify details like pedestrians and stop signs up to 500 meters away. Vehicles driven by the Waymo Driver all share the same behavior — safe, courteous, reliable — which removes a lot of the uncertainty for those around them. Making sure all road users feel safe is a top priority for us.

  • If it’s autonomous, why do I sometimes see a human in the car?

    Our vehicles are primarily driving autonomously, but you’ll sometimes notice that they have autonomous specialists riding in the driver’s seat. These specialists are there to monitor our autonomous driving technology and share important feedback during testing to help us improve the Waymo One experience.

  • Lock

    Can the cars be hacked?

    Protection against hacking is a key priority, which is why we have multiple layers of security designed to prevent unauthorized sources from accessing our autonomous driving system. Steering, braking, and controllers are isolated from outside communication. The onboard computer that maintains responsibility for the driving task at all times is shielded from wireless networks. When our vehicles communicate with our fleet response team, all cellular connections are encrypted. And we’re constantly evolving our technology to help ensure we have secure protections.

  • Waymo sensor pod on top of vehicle

    What do you do with the camera footage you collect?

    The cameras on the exterior of the vehicle are used to help the Waymo Driver see and improve its ability to safely navigate the road. Cameras within the vehicle are a way for us to make sure your ride goes smoothly. Among other things, we may use cameras to: make sure cars are clean, find lost items, provide help in case of emergency, check that in-car rules are being followed, and improve products and services.

  • Is it safe to be near the lidar sensors on your vehicle?

    Yes, the light is not hazardous. The low level of emissions falls under Class 1 limits and is essentially in the same category as lasers used in household appliances such as CD and DVD players.