Analysts found driverless taxi services to be slower and 25% pricier than rideshares
If you visit or live in big cities in the United States, you’ve likely seen them. Jaguar I-PACE electric vehicles (EVs) cruising around with city traffic with albatross sensor arrays and no driver. Most of these self-driving transportation solutions are the doing of Waymo. However, before we start making “the future is now” jokes, recent data points to expensive and time-consuming issues.
In Forbes ride tests, Waymo driverless taxi services proved to be pricier and take twice as long as a rideshare like an Uber or Lyft
Would you be comfortable taking a ride in a driverless taxi? Well, if not, you’re not alone. According to data from the Pew Research Center, just 26% of Americans thought driverless cars were a good idea in 2022. Moreover, 63% of U.S. adults wouldn’t want a ride in an autonomous vehicle given the opportunity. However, that lack of confidence didn’t stop Waymo from sinking its teeth into self-driving taxis.
According to Forbes, Waymo has covered over one million steering wheel-free miles over the course of more than 150,000 rides. Like it or not, driverless cars are already out there and delivering passengers. On the plus side, driverless cars can take distracted or otherwise dangerous motorists off the road. However, recent data suggests that taking a driverless taxi could cost more than a rideshare. Worse yet, doing so may take twice as long as an Uber or Lyft. Ouch.
Specifically, in a 50-ride test, the average Waymo ride was around $37.64. Conversely, the average rideshare was about $28.14. That’s a difference of around 29% for choosing a human pilot.
What’s more, Waymo’s vehicles don’t drive on highways in their current state of development. Of course, self-driving taxis also don’t push the limit as much as human drivers. As a result, the average ride in one of the driverless taxi cabs took 121% longer than a comparable rideshare. In one example, Forbes testers revealed that a ride from Santa Monica to downtown San Francisco took nearly three times longer than the average rideshare.
The findings come just as Tesla unveiled its Robotaxi. The Robotaxi, a self-driving two-seater promises to perform a similar task to what other autonomous vehicle services are doing, namely transport passengers without the need for a human operator.
