I tried a Waymo ride ahead of its London debut – Uber’s days could be numbered

As a huge advocate for autonomous driving tech, I was hugely excited to hear that Waymo was due to start offering its service in London. But I couldn’t wait that long. So, while in Los Angeles this month, I took the opportunity to try out the service.

Waymo has been running in LA since November 2024 and covers 80 square miles from Santa Monica to downtown. In November 2025, it extended its routes to include freeways, providing even faster trips across cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix. Today, there’s a fleet of 2,500 vehicles across the US, all bookable through the Waymo One app.

While new services like Google’s Zoox autonomous cars are only available for US app store users, the Waymo One app is available globally, so can be easily downloaded to your phone. Once in the app, the registration process is simple and just takes a few minutes before you’re ready to order your first ride.

Booking a Waymo is much like booking an Uber or Lyft service, with prices to match, too. You put in your destination and it works out the closest pickup point to where you are. As I was in a shopping mall in LA, it directed me out to the side entrance of the mall near the parking lot. Once it had selected a free car for me, I could see how far it was away and how long it would take to reach me.

Though I was standing in a dedicated pick-up spot, my car struggled to reach my destination due to a required turn across traffic. So after a couple of attempts, it offered me a new pick-up location that was just a few minutes' walk away.

I spotted the Waymo car in the spot the map had suggested, parked with its hazard lights on. The car was a Jaguar I-Pace, like all current Waymo vehicles, and kitted out with its 5th-generation autonomous driving system. This includes extra external cameras, sensors and LiDAR, as well as an LED dome showing my initials, so I knew this was my car.

Once I reached the car, I used the app to unlock the doors and climbed in the back. It’s a slightly odd sensation jumping into a cab with an empty driver's seat – especially one with a full steering wheel and pedals – but I went with it.

There’s a large screen in the back between the two front seats, which welcomes you into the car. Once you’re in, the door is closed and your seat belt is on, you simply press the button on the screen to start and the car fires into life. Over the first minute, it talked me through the safety information about the journey and reminded me not to touch the wheel or pedals. As I was sitting in the back, this wasn’t an issue, but it is possible for someone to sit up front in the passenger seat as well.

It’s strange seeing the wheel turning and the indicators going on and off without anyone sat in the driver’s seat but I was busy listening to the information at first and the car took it’s time getting back out on to the road. Once into the flow of traffic, the ride felt very calm and controlled leaving me completely at ease.

I watched the graphics on the rear screen as it showed the positioning of other cars, pedestrians and road markings, as it plotted its route back to my hotel. There was an arrival time on the screen too, so I knew exactly how long the journey would take.

Once you’re into your drive, you can also adjust your surroundings, changing the in-cabin temperature, moving the front seat forward to give you more space and even picking the music. There are different stations to listen to or, if you link your Spotify account to your Waymo app, you can put on your own playlists for the journey.

It was only when the car got free of traffic and picked up speed that I had any concerns about not having a driver, but in LA, as I’m sure it will be in London, those times are limited. I noticed a few times it indicated attempting to change lanes, but then changed its plan when it wasn’t let out. All in all, it handled heavy traffic very well.

Just before we reached the destination, the system came back to life, reminding me not to forget my phone, keys and wallet, or anything else I’d put on the seats. To unlock the doors, you need to put the handle twice.

Overall, I was impressed by how calm and easy my drive was. No erratic driving or awkward conversations with the driver, no being subjected to bad music for 20 mins. Just a relaxed journey in my own space. That’s certainly a big plus over other ride shares. It will be even better once they move to cars without steering wheels, like the Zoox, but once this comes to London, I’ll definitely be booking these on a regular basis.