Converging AI and Human Roles

Organisation · Transport & Field

Waymo

Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company that started as the Google Self-Driving Car Project in 2009.1 It was established in 2016 as an independent self-driving technology company under Alphabet.2 Waymo calls its automated driving system the Waymo Driver: a sensor suite of lidar, cameras and radar with an AI compute platform, plus the software that decides what the car should do.1 In 2018 it launched Waymo One in Metro Phoenix, which it describes as the world’s first commercial autonomous ride-hailing service, and in 2020 it opened its rider-only service there to all members of the public.2

Its ride-hailing service now runs 24 hours a day with no human driver in the front seat. Its FAQ lists 13 metro areas, including Phoenix, Los Angeles, Dallas and the San Francisco Bay Area, plus Austin and Atlanta, where rides are booked through Uber.1 Waymo says its cars drove 271.3 million rider-only miles, its term for miles with no human driver, through June 2026, and that over the same distance in its cities they had 95% fewer serious-injury-or-worse crashes than an average human driver. That is Waymo’s own analysis of its fleet, not an independent measurement.3 On February 17, 2026 it put its fleet at 3,000 vehicles providing over 400,000 rides a week.4 These figures anchor MetaRoles’ feature on robotaxis and the taxi driver’s job and our explainer of the SAE driving levels, where Waymo’s rider-only service is the deployed example of Level 4.

Taking the driver out of the car hasn’t taken people out of the operation. Waymo says its service “does not rely on remote drivers”: about 70 Remote Assistance agents were on duty worldwide at any time as of February 17, 2026, answering requests initiated by the Waymo Driver with advice the system can use or reject.4 When a car stops and can’t continue, a Roadside Assistance specialist in a yellow safety vest gets into the driver’s seat and drives it to the drop-off.5 In the US, its fleet partners Flexdrive by Lyft and Moove.io keep the cars clean and running,2 and riders who use wheelchairs are served by wheelchair-accessible vehicles that are driven manually, by drivers who help them board and secure their chairs.6

Illustration: Waymo, which runs rider-only robotaxis with no one in the driver’s seat in US cities.

Key facts

OriginGoogle Self-Driving Car Project, 20091
Established2016, as an independent self-driving technology company under Alphabet2
TypeDeveloper of an automated driving system (the Waymo Driver) and operator of a ride-hailing service1
Service area13 metro areas in its own app, plus Austin and Atlanta through Uber; 24/7, rider-only (as listed, retrieved 2026-10-13)1
VehiclesJaguar I-PACE (fifth-generation Waymo Driver) and Ojai (sixth-generation)1
Stated scale271.3 million rider-only miles through June 2026 (Waymo-stated)3; 3,000 vehicles and over 400,000 rides a week (Waymo-stated, February 17, 2026)4
Remote staffAbout 70 Remote Assistance agents on duty worldwide at any time, advice only (Waymo-stated, February 17, 2026)4
StatusActive, operating rider-only service (as of 2026-10-13)1

Appears in

Sources

  1. Waymo, Frequently Asked Questions, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  2. Waymo, About Waymo: our mission, history and partners, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  3. Waymo, Waymo Safety Impact (rider-only miles and human-benchmark comparisons through June 2026), retrieved 2026-10-13.
  4. Waymo, Advice, not control: the role of Remote Assistance in Waymo’s operations, February 17, 2026.
  5. Waymo Help Center, Ride interruptions, retrieved 2026-10-13.
  6. Waymo Help Center, Wheelchair-accessible vehicles, retrieved 2026-10-13.