Field Notes on a Waymo Trip (not great!):

Trip: Requested a ride to San Francisco airport (SFO)

Wait Time: 23 mins (vs 2 mins for an uber)

Price: About 10% less than Uber.

Ride Experience: Excellent - these cars can drive themselves!

Ride Planning: Drop off at rental car facility only - extra 15 mins train to terminal needed.

Drop Off: Dropped me off in a residential neighborhood 7 mins from SFO.

Support: Called support from car and was told an incident at airport meant drop off at rental car facility wasn’t possible.

Solution: Told to get out and hail another ride to airport.

Humans are Kind: Nice lady in house came out and told us Waymos had been dropping people there all week (it actually made the news)

Follow Up: 3 free rides added to my account

Verdict: The driving is pretty much solved - but there are still huge operational issues that Waymo have to solve in order to compete. Will take time!