Waymo — A Magical Ride for Me and My Grandson | by Anil Gupta | Aug, 2025
During my visit to the US in June 2025, I used Waymo — a fully self-driving car — as my primary mode of transportation. There were two reasons for this. First, I am not comfortable driving left-hand drive cars. Second, and more importantly, my 2-year-10-month-old grandson Krish absolutely loves Waymo!
Whenever we were walking to the park or Bernal Hill, he would keep counting how many Waymos he spotted on the road. He was fascinated. When I was there, he would insist that I drop him at his preschool and pick him up too — only in a Waymo.
At present, Waymo operates 24/7 fully autonomous rides — with no human behind the wheel — in only 6 to 7 cities such as San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Austin, Miami, and Atlanta. It has already completed over a quarter million fully autonomous paid trips, and is growing exponentially.
In San Francisco, Waymo has captured a 27% market share, which is significant, especially considering it opened to the general public only last year. All Waymo vehicles are electric white Jaguars. They strictly follow speed limits and all road rules. In fact, I personally felt that Waymo is making the roads much safer.
According to the company, its AI drivers have completed over 5 million trips with zero fatalities — and I believe it. Waymo has truly made roads safer and more accessible for everyone.
It’s a great experience: clean, smooth, reliable. The wait time is usually less than Uber, and financially, it’s more cost-effective — no need to tip a driver either!
We often discussed how kids like my grandson Krish may never need to learn driving. With AI-driven cars becoming the norm, in 15 years, steering wheels may become a thing of the past.
Wow. But then a big question comes to mind — what about the jobs that taxi drivers will lose?
