A Waymo autonomous vehicle is parked, while a man (Christoph Hoffmann) is opening the passenger door. The technology on the roof and sides of the vehicle, such as sensors and cameras, is clearly visible.

Autonomous Driving

On the streets of San Francisco

4 February 2025 3 min read

In the US, the mobility of the future has already taken off. In some major cities, autonomous cabs chauffeur their passengers to their desired destination. Christoph Hoffmann tried out the ride-hailing service from Google subsidiary Waymo for us in San Francisco.

White Waymo taxis with their distinctive camera and sensor systems have long become a familiar sight on the streets, here in front of the famous Painted Ladies, the Victorian wooden houses built in the 19th century. — In San Francisco, the white Waymo cabs with their eye-catching camera and sensor systems have long been part of the familiar street scene, here in front of the famous Painted Ladies, the Victorian wooden houses built in the 19th century.
Waymo combines radar, camera and LiDAR systems. The environmental sensors make it possible for the cabs to detect their surroundings precisely. Waymo uses the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace for its autonomous ride-hailing service.

The first few minutes take some getting used to. The initial excitement then subsides and a fascinated Christoph Hoffmann watches as the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace moves confidently through San Francisco's bustling city center traffic without a driver. "Simply brilliant, I would never have thought that autonomous driving would work so well today," reports the 43-year-old, who works as Global Product Manager Service & Connectivity at ZEISS Medical Technology in Dublin, California.

Dublin is a good hour away from San Francisco. Christoph went there one weekend to test the pioneering ride-hailing service from the Google subsidiary, Waymo, for us. The company operates in Los Angeles and San Francisco and Phoenix, Arizona. If you want to use the service, like Christoph, you can request a ride with the robo-taxi via the Waymo One app and the car will then pick up passengers at the agreed starting point using GPS positioning. The door handles are retracted and can only be unlocked using the app to ensure only authorized persons can get into the cab. A friendly computerized voice greets him with “Good afternoon, Christoph!” as he boards and asks him to fasten his seatbelt. The comfort of the autonomous vehicle is characteristically Jaguar, the interior is clean and well maintained. Christoph adjusts the temperature using the passenger display, selects his favorite music and takes a quick look at the technical data of the all-electric Jaguar I-Pace. It's time to set off after one more short explanatory video. The driving experience is surprisingly relaxed. “The ride by the autonomous vehicle is extremely smooth and balanced and much better than by a human being. It will even change lanes automatically to drive faster in response to the traffic,” says Christoph.

A view of the streets of San Francisco from the vehicle.

A map of San Francisco and Daly City, with various stations marked.

Christoph has booked two routes – one from Presidio to Pacific Heights and the other from Golden Gate Park back to Presidio, where Christoph's own car is parked. The robo-taxis take around 20 minutes for both routes (3-4 miles) and cost around 20 dollars per trip.

Ride-Hailing versus Ride-Sharing

Ride-hailing allows private drivers to transport passengers for a fee, as offered by Uber, for example. Waymo offers this service with its self-driving cars.
Ride-sharing is a special form of ride-hailing in which several passengers who want to travel in a similar direction share a ride in a car or shuttle. The service is available for cars with and without drivers.

A view of everything

The manufacturer combines radar, camera and LiDAR systems so that Waymo cabs can autonomously find their way through the streets of San Francisco. These environmental sensors mean the cabs can accurately detect their surroundings. The system uses artificial intelligence to figure out what is around it and shares this information with the passenger on their display. “What the vehicle sees and perceives using its sensors is incredible. That's one of the reasons why I found the ride so safe,” adds Christoph.

Fully autonomous driving technology eliminates risk factors associated with human driving, such as fatigue or distraction. A joint study conducted in 2022 by Swiss Re and Waymo showed that autonomous driving technology can reduce the frequency of compensation claims by two thirds. Passengers can quickly get used to this.

A greeting display inside a Waymo One taxi.

Waymo One welcomes its passengers as they board.

From the perspective of the backseat, the empty front seats are visible. In front of one of them is a display showing the route.

The driver's seat remains empty during the journey. The steering wheel is moving.

Christoph is sitting in the backseat and using the passenger display of the taxi.

Christoph can see the route and arrival time on the passenger display.

The 5 steps to a self-driving car

There are individual assistance systems, e.g. cruise control or lane departure warning, to support the driver.
Some things, such as parking, are performed by the car itself using a combination of separate assistance systems.
In use cases identified by the manufacturer, e.g. traffic jam pilot, the car performs certain driving tasks without any human intervention.
The vehicle can cover specific routes such as highways and the systems do the driving automatically.
The car does all the work itself, the only people are passengers.

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Sheila Red - Department Administrator, ZEISS Medical Technology, Dublin, USA

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