Waymo’s Pricey Rides: Autonomous Cars Cost More, Yet Riders Pay Up

Robotaxis were envisioned as a budget-friendly transportation solution thanks to high usage and minimal labor costs. However, new data reveals a different reality: Waymo’s self-driving car service consistently surpasses Uber and Lyft in price, yet consumers are still choosing to pay the premium.

Waymo vs. Uber & Lyft: The Cost Breakdown

Obi, an app that aggregates real-time pricing across ride-hailing services, conducted an in-depth analysis of Waymo’s pricing strategy. The report, based on data collected in San Francisco between March 25 and April 25, compared nearly 90,000 ride offers from Waymo, Lyft (standard), and UberX. The findings are quite revealing:

• Lyft: Averaged $14.44 per ride.
• UberX: Averaged $15.58 per ride.
• Waymo: Averaged $20.43 per ride.

Despite the higher cost, Waymo reported facilitating 250,000 paid trips weekly across its initial four cities in May.