Current state of Waymo in Phoenix
- Now regularly seeing my social circle, male and female, looking to it first
- Parents now comfortable sending their kids to school and elsewhere. This is a major vibe shift. Early on, women solo riders were the loudest champions. But parents are overtaking that. Effusive praise e.g. “I have my freedom back!”
- Biggest impediment to growth is that they go slower. Which of course is because they don’t speed and don’t run red lights
- Perception that Waymo makes other drivers drive safer
- Now regularly seeing Waymo convoys
- First anecdote effect dissipating. When someone sees their first minor error from Waymo, it is jarring. But then a long time elapses until they see their second. And that builds intuition that it is rare, and points the finger at how much more common errors are from human drivers
- People are asking when they can order Waymo via either Lyft or Uber
- People seeing how fast the AI tools are improving is bringing the “Waymo right now is the worst it will ever be” conclusion
Phoenix is Waymo’s most mature market, now 8 years into public availability. It’s a big reason why we chose Phoenix (Tempe) for the first Culdesac.
The May 2023 launch of the Jaguar platform was a seminal moment in the history of AV Ridehail going mainstream. And AV Ridehail is going to drive the largest change to cities in decades.