Our first time in a Waymo

“There’s No Driver!”, Ernie Advantitious, 2026

So, Mrs A and I were in San Francisco for a few days. As we usually do, we took Amtrak and relied on walking and public transportation to get around. This time we stayed on Nob Hill, which reminded us that San Francisco is hilly. The street next to our hotel was steep enough for stairs. I counted and there were 187 steps walking up to the next street.

San Francisco is fun. We can always find interesting places to explore. This time we decided to go to the Botanical Garden in Golden Gate Park. It was too far (and too hilly) for us to walk, and there wasn’t a direct bus route. We needed a better way to get there. That’s when I said “Let’s take a Waymo, I’ve downloaded the app!”

I saw the look of terror on Mrs A’s face. Would we get in an accident? Would it take us to the right place? What if it wouldn’t let us out?

Was it like Johnny Cab in Total Recall?

Eventually, we decided to go for it. So I opened the app and started to request a ride.

I discovered that Waymo was not that expensive, about the same as an Uber. Cool. I also found out that Waymo doesn’t necessarily come to you; you have to start your ride at a designated pickup point. There were four near us; I chose one that avoided climbing 187 steps.

The form was easy to fill out and I hit the button. Directions to the pickup point popped up, along with our car’s arrival time. We were off, walking briskly down the street, staring at my phone for directions, worrying about getting there late. I forgot the part that said the car would wait up to five minutes for us to arrive if we weren’t there.

We got to the pickup point and sure enough, in a couple of minutes Waymo came and stopped right in front of us, my initials displayed on the little light bar on top of the car. I tapped the button on my phone to unlock the door, we got in, and the car started moving.

There was no driver! But a voice from somewhere reminded us to buckle our seatbelts.

We were soon settled in and began to enjoy the ride. I looked around and found the music controls, choosing a playlist from my phone instead of the default elevator music.

I had always assumed that Waymo would kind of poke along so that the computer would have time to analyze situations and adjust. Instead, we moved right along, smartly accelerating and braking. I also had assumed that Waymo would drive very conservatively, not changing lanes or adapting to traffic. Lane changes were frequent and smooth.

And when there was a car partially blocking an intersection, Waymo drifted to the right to get around the car, just like I would do. The difference was that, unlike when I perform such a maneuver, Mrs A seemed totally at ease with Waymo doing it.

Before our first ride I assumed that I would miss chatting with the driver, but I didn’t. It was nice to look around and comment on things we saw without a driver being in the car. I wonder if Waymo was listening to our conversation…hmmm.

Waymo dropped us right across the street from the Botanical Garden. We enjoyed five hours exploring most of it…it’s huge! Then we walked over to the Inner Sunset neighborhood and had a cup of coffee, and wandered around for a bit.

It was time to go home. We were Waymo pros now, so I whipped out my phone and quickly requested a ride back to our hotel. The app directed us to the pickup point and soon our car came. Easy Peasy. I pressed the “unlock the doors” button on my phone, and…nothing. Pressed again. Nothing. I can imagine how I looked; a gray-haired gentleman standing next to a Waymo, madly tapping his phone, his wife standing beside him saying “We can’t get in! We can’t get in!”

Panic set in. We couldn’t get the doors open and our five minutes of wait time were up (it was probably more like 30 seconds). What would happen if Waymo left? Would we be charged? Would we be blacklisted because we missed the pickup? What were we to do?

Finally, help arrived. A young man came up and asked if we needed help. “We can’t get in! We can’t get in!” we cried. Calmly, he said, “Maybe this isn’t your car?” and pointed to another Waymo that had just pulled up behind “our” car. Sure enough, the light on top had my initials, and as I continued to mash the button on my phone, I heard the “click-click-click” of the door locks being activated. We thanked him profusely, got in, and burst out laughing.

I adjusted the temperature to be cooler; we had worked up a sweat. I changed the music to light jazz. We looked out the window, commenting on the changing view. Best of all, we did not have to apologize to a driver for the mixup.

We are looking forward to our next ride in a Waymo.

PS — At the end of our trip, we took an Uber from the train station to our house. We wished we could have taken a Waymo — the driver was nice enough, but it had been a long day and we weren’t in the mood to chat.