Interesting. Very little about the underlying reasons for this.

Maybe it's driven by curiosity/awe for the new experience? Maybe being alone in the car makes a better ride?

I think my autonomavertigo would prevent me from ever taking a Waymo.

Autonomavertigo (noun):

The disorienting fear or anxiety experienced when surrendering control to autonomous systems, especially self-driving vehicles. Often accompanied by phantom brake-pumping and suspicious glances at the dashboard.

I'm willing to pay more for a better ride experience:

* Waymos are all the same. I underrated the value of this until I started taking Waymo more often.

* I can control the music and volume with my phone.

* I can listen to YouTube or take a call without AirPods. Sometimes I even hotspot and do some work.

But most importantly Waymos all _drive_ the same way. I have had some really perplexing Uber drivers, either driving in a confused and circuitous way, distracted by YouTube, or just driving dangerously. I am more confident that I will have a safe ride in a Waymo than in an Uber.

The photo in the pictures is a brand new Jaguar. Just sayin’

I was under the impression they use Chrysler minvans, but I’d pay more to ride in a late model Jaguar than some random Hyundai.

The article doesn't mention if tips are included in their calculation (I suspect not).

Are Uber/Lyft still cheaper after a 10-15% tip?

I don't use Uber because I think they're a bad actor and don't want to support them. Waymo is Google, so there's some of that there too, but in a pinch I'd probably use Waymo. I'd never use Uber.

Electronic vehicles have made riding in Uber's an almost uniformly nauseating experience (literally). In order of preference I will walk/bike -> public transit -> Waymo -> drive myself -> consider staying at home -> Uber/Lyft

At least half my recent rides in Ubers/Lyft have been drivers that shouldn’t be on the road, I’d happily pay more for a Waymo.

Yeah I noticed that too, and I paid for the first experience. But also because Lyft guy canceled on me after waiting for 12 minutes. Waymo does not cancel.

I feel like Waymo has discouraged Lyft and Uber drivers from being in the area. I would rather pick an uber driver who can get there fast than a Waymo.

out of sheer curiosity, i took my first (few) waymo rides while in san francisco last month. mind = blown. there is nothing more enjoyable than getting into a vehicle by yourself, no driver, no awkwardness, nothing. i was happy to pay more for a waymo than an uber, too.

I pay more:

- To support cool technology

- To ride in a high end car of known quality

- To listen to my music and at any volume

- To not feel weird about the little things like talking or rolling down my windows or setting an AC Temperature

- To know exactly when and where my driver will pick me up down to the exact curb.

- To not have to make small talk with a person. Even when requesting quiet preferred you’ll get an uber driver who wants to share their life story or trauma dump on you.

- To not die. I’ve been in some terrifying Ubers with either bad drivers or just exhausted ones.

A robot isn’t going to decide it doesn’t want to take my ride after accepting it and drive around aimlessly hoping I’ll get tired of waiting and cancel. I haven’t needed Uber/Lyft on a regular basis in several years, but back when I did that was a frequently recurring problem.

As a man I thankfully haven't ever really felt unsafe (in this way anyways, definitely some bad/distracted Uber drivers) but I could see women or kids finding Waymos to be a safer overall experience worth a premium

In Austin, Waymos are hailed via the Uber app, which will quote you a price which is good for either a conventional Uber or a Waymo, and you get a Waymo if one is available. Same price. The Waymo is actually cheaper because there's no tip.

The issue I have with Waymo is that getting in and out of those i-Paces as a "person of height" is rather difficult - I really have to do a strange contortion - and if I want to sit in the right rear, there's nobody in front to pull the seat up for me so there's not enough legroom. (I've moved to adjusting and sitting in the front passenger seat when I get a Waymo, something human Uber drivers hate.)

The Waymo cars are really comfortable luxury Jaguars. For Uber and Lyft there are many price tiers, but to reliably get an equally or more comfortable car you probably need to book the black car options. I’m sure Uber / Lyft are way more expensive per mile than Waymo on that tier.

In addition to all the things people have pointed out that makes it a better experience.

my eastern european mind cannot comprehend 2 things:

- if the average price per ride is $20.43 and average price per km is $11.22 does it mean that the average ride length is 1.8km? that seems kinda low..., like that's something I would walk if I didn't hurry..

- if the higher prices are really influenced by costs of operating AV and not simple greed fueled by "offering a better product", how long it's gonna take to be competitive in countries where driver salaries are lower than US? In Bratislava where I'm from the UberX price per km outside surges are lower than 1€ (there's a minimum price per ride of 4.50€ though, but a ride to the airport which is 9km away is 7.41€ now (and that's without the frequent discounts Uber offers, currently I have a 30% discount offered and it would cost me 5.19€ with the discount)...

I am happy that Waymo is making money. Google would kill it, if it could not make money.

I once went to a remote town in Maryland that had only one uber driver. Imagine how beautiful a Waymo machine would work there.

Hehe, missed a chance to write a cheap pun on that headline.

"Waymo rides cost waymo than Uber or Lyft and people are paying anyway"

This doesn't surprise me at all. I work in the EU but recently the Americans we hire are very hesitant to have conversations with service providers. They will pay more to use a service that has an app, rather than call up another taxi company by phone for example (and it's not a language barrier problem, because everyone speaks english). I can see this extending to not wanting to have a driver in their taxi.

I see this with UK people recently too. I'm not sure what it is. I'm not saying it's not an EU thing at all, but from my vantage point, the behavior is most prevalent in Americans

Edit: After reading this thread, it's possible this could be sampling bias and more of a cross-country generational thing from mellennials down. (I am a mellennial too)

The last time I got an Uber, it was driven by a young fellow who looked to be in his first year of driving (I could be wrong), the car smelled like mothballs and was obviously in poor shape, and he accidentally drove on the wrong side of a divided road for a block or so (he was apologetic). The last time I tried a regular taxi stand, the car looked even worse, and it broke down. So, we called Lyft, and the driver could not find where we were because it was not a normal address (she was trying her best, but her English was not up to the task of understanding our explanation).

Waymo's selling point might be that its cars are all in good shape (right now), and customers know this.

I’ve had several questionable uber rides regarding personal safety and would gladly ride with something with a consistent safety track record for a premium. Recently rode with a visibly sick driver that had had a hard time catching his breath long enough to keep his eyes on the road. Automation doesn’t get sick.

“Colloquially, there is an idea that autonomous vehicles are something that will erode driver jobs and put drivers at risk. And I think the irony of what we’ve seen is that it’s actually quite expensive to run an AV”

This seems like a temporary problem. Google is charging what the market will bear and doesn’t have ability to get more cars on the road.

People are eager to pay money to not deal with other people. Which makes me pessimistic about the future of humanity given recent developments in AI really

As a Waymo-booster on HN for a while now, here's my latest anecdote. I tried to figure out how to take Waymo to LAX even though it's not actually in their territory yet just because I value the experience so much. I was borderline going to take it within walking distance (about half a mile), but got lazy at the last minute. I took Lyft instead, and, as if the universe cursed my laziness, I booked a "comfort" car for $3 more than the base level Lyft. At first I was going to get a Tesla Model Y to take me, but that cancelled. Instead, what must have been a first generation Honda Pilot picked me up, suspension creaking and muffler that had seen better days. Did Lyft recognize what they sent instead of the "comfort" they promised and therefore charge me $3 less? Of course not. When I tried to contact customer service I ran into what I'm sure plenty of HN people have, which is a dead end where you report the issue and they (programmatically?) adjudicate the complaint on the spot. Their determination? I wasn't entitled to a $3 refund. Ironic that the rideshare app with human drivers doesn't allow me to contact their customer service whereas Waymo has no problem with it (yeah, yeah, I get it, "we'll see once they reach a huge scale." But today the experience is so much better than Uber or Lyft that while it lasts I will bask in its driverless glory).

Call me crazy but I greatly prefer old fashioned taxis, because their drivers know how to step on it and drive like maniacs instead of doddering grandmothers. Sure they stink and have weird accents but why would I care about that when I just want to get home from the airport and get to bed as soon as possible? Accepting cash and not needing some bullshit app is also a huge bonus.

This makes a lot of sense to me. When you ride in an Uber or a taxi, you're a guest in the driver's space. In a Waymo, it's your own space. You can play music, talk on the phone, etc. without worrying about disturbing the driver. You're not likely to have strong odors, or driver's phone conversations. And the experience will be roughly consistent each time. In an Uber, you have no idea what the car or the driving standards will be like until you're in it. I trust my own driving over a Waymo, but I'd trust Waymo over an average Uber driver, let alone a bad one.

I've had some nice conversations with Uber drivers, but I've had some unpleasant rides too. I'd definitely pay a bit extra for a good driverless car. ('Good' being key. After trying out the Tesla FSD beta a couple times though, you couldn't pay me to ride in one of those without the ability to grab control.)

How many of you have used ZipCars or an equivalent? I guarantee you Waymo cars will look worse than the average Uber/Lyft once they stop fluffing up the experience.

Simply not playing Uber’s bait-and-switch game (happened again just yesterday: A purported $40 ride ended up being $80 due to being “unexpectedly 3x the planned distance”) would get them my business immediately once they become available in NYC for the very few times I do take a car.

Not marking up rides when there’s a gift balance on the account would also be a great distinguishing feature.

This phenomenon is interesting, and a bit surprising. I can kinda see it: while my experiences with Uber & Lyft over the past ~13 years has been overall very positive, there are quite a few minor-seeming-but-adds-up-to-annoying things that can happen with Uber/Lyft that just won't happen with Waymo:

* Driver cancels and you have to wait for a new driver to accept.

* Driver is really chatty and you aren't in the mood, or worse, they want to talk about uncomfortable topics like politics or religion (and even worse, they hold views you find bad). I sometimes (rarely) get drivers who want to complain about something or other, and it's just awkward.

* Car condition is unknown until you get in, and could be bad. There might be unpleasant smells, either from cleaning issues or driver body odor.

* It's hot enough for air conditioning, but the driver instead has windows open to save gas (which is dubious anyway as open windows creates more drag); it's uncomfortable but you feel awkward asking them to close the windows and turn a/c on.

On the other hand, sometimes you do get an awesome driver who enhances the experience beyond what a robotaxi can offer. I'm not the most chatty sort with people I don't know, but I have on occasion had a really fun, positive conversation with an Uber/Lyft driver that I genuinely enjoyed. And in SF at least, Waymo will still not drive on freeways, so if there's a significantly faster freeway route for your trip, Waymo will take more time.

I generally do prefer Waymo over Uber/Lyft, but I'm not willing to pay all that much more for it. One thing to remember is that you should also factor in the tip you'd give the Uber/Lyft driver when making the comparison, since you don't tip a Waymo. Lately I've seen prices like (tip-adjusted) $12 for Uber/Lyft and $25 for Waymo for the same ride, but I'm not willing to pay that much more for Waymo. If Waymo is a few bucks more expensive I'll use it, but not $10. (I also have a 10 points per dollar thing on Lyft rides with my credit card, so I try to remember to take into account a more-or-less 15% discount on the ride, versus the standard 1.5% 1 point per dollar I get with Waymo.)

I mix and match but I’ll take a Waymo if it’s <= $5 more for these reasons:

1. Literally zero variance. Every car is the same. Every driver is the same style. If it says it’ll be there in 7 minutes it will be 7, not 5 and not 10.

2. A jaguar SUV is a premium vehicle. It’s comparable to an Uber black not a regular Uber.

3. It’s so child friendly. My son can make all the noise he wants and I can take time loading him in without a driver being impatient.

4. They’re very clean. I’ve never been in a dirty or bad smelling Waymo. That’s very nice.

5. No aggressive driving. I’ve had Ubers that scare me weaving between lanes above the speed limit. A Waymo is always smooth.

Replacing 100% of cars with self-driving taxis are definitely the future. In this context:

Corporate owned for-profit self-driving cars are the mark of a dystopian.

Publicly-owned or non-profit self-driving cars are the mark of a utopia.

This looks like a clickbait study. Waymo is cheaper 100% of the time for me. The two big data points I think they purposely glossed over are:

1. Tip – Uber and Lyft cost 20% more than the ride price.

2. Car quality – Sure, a Corolla on Lyft is cheaper than Waymo. But once you select something desirable the price goes up, a lot.

In my experience Uber/Lyft/Bolt in their race to the bottom started tolerating cars in bad shape and drivers that don’t care about driving safely. Really hoping to see Waymo or any other robo-taxi in Europe soon.

This doesn’t surprise me and I’m not sure it’s about people not wanting to interact with people or whatever - many of the Ubers I’ve got while in SF have been pretty grim (unclean, weird odors, ancient badly serviced car etc) and badly driven. I’ve not noticed this being such an issue in the UK/Europe but that might just be because I take Ubers much more rarely there (with more prevalent public transit etc).

I’d definitely pay more for a Waymo, which is a much more reliably pleasant (and very cool!) experience.

Last Uber driver I took was solving Rubik's cube while driving, so I can see the value in Waymo actually paying attention to the road. On top of that I know what to expect and I can just listen to podcasts or do whatever. One thing that worries me a bit is the camera that's pointed at your phone in the back...

Uber and Lyft’s cheapest fare options are far from what they used to be. Want a timely pickup? Gotta pay for priority. Want a car that isn’t 10 years old and smelly? Pay extra. Don’t want a sketchy driver smelling of weed? Pay extra. The list goes on. Waymo however at least you know you get a clean and safe car.

The real pain with Waymo is that they just aren't as reliably available in a short period, especially at high demand times. Uber can incentivize bringing on extra drivers at certain times - Waymo can't. Unless they size the fleet for high demand peaks - which would be incredibly cost prohibitive, I don't see how they solve this except maybe a hybrid model or they distill their "waymo driver" into something that runs on a standard economy car.

I will take Waymos whenever possible just to avoid the black ice tree air fresheners you find in >50% of Ubers that makes my eyes burn for hours. That and the aggressive driving that makes me car sick.

A lot of people don’t price shop, they have a default service they prefer and they just pay for it whatever the cost.

We need Waymo busses, either directly operated, or licensing the technology.

Who wouldn't pay more to not have to interact with an unknown human?

Serious question - what are all the unskilled immigrants that drive taxis/rideshare/etc going to do? Many millions. What’s the plan for these guys?

Oh Wow, I wonder if this experiment would yield similar results outside San Francisco, hmmm?

There's still a "wow factor" associated with this. I live in a city that doesn't have Waymo. I recently had a work trip to a city that does. Waymo was 25% more expensive than Uber (~15 vs ~20). I still took Waymo because I don't get to experience it often, so it's fun to be in a driverless car. If I had constant access to Waymo, I would have probably chosen the cheapest option.

The driving is much more comfortable than Uber or Lyft. Taking them through San Francisco I find they gentler on hills, accelerate and break more mildly, and don’t try to drop you in unsafe places.

They’re just better drivers than people and that comfort is worth the up charge.

I've been taking these rides 5-6 days a week, everywhere, and also in other countries outside the US. What I've come to realize is this: what matters to me the most is the consistency of the lowest bar of the experience.

I get that sometimes with human drivers, when I'm lucky, I get someone who goes above and beyond, someone who's fantastic to talk to along the way, and so on.

But if I can trade all that with a guarantee that there's a consistent, predictable floor to my worst experience, I'll take it in a heartbeat.

At the end of it, I take a ride to get from point A to point B. I'd rather have a machine does it for me very efficiently, without all the messy human element, with the ups and the downs, because it's the downs that ruin my day.

I've had the opposite experience recently.

Going from downtown Los Angeles to Santa Monica is $30s for a Waymo and runs up to $50s for Uber/Lyft (sometimes). Otherwise, they tend to be within a few dollars.

I figured it was a combination of Google subsidizing rides and a lack of a "traffic tax".

They're a significantly better experience for 45+ minute rides.

Speaking to a European woman, she said she was not surprised women would pay more not to be harassed. I guess in her country there is more of that. Me, I enjoy human interaction, but the European female angle on taxi "safety" was something I hadn't considered.

The new age version of cabs are over fit, people take them for many things they don't need. Me included; I no longer ask my siblings/friends/spouse to take me to the airport, I just order a lyft/uber where as I wasn't doing that with cabs 10 years ago.

People are catching on to that reality but at least WayMo offers something novel.

I just realized why I'd pay premium for Waymo. Sometimes rideshare drivers refuse to pick up my fare, or get lost, or cancel a trip halfway to me. A robot car (one would hope) wouldn't do those things. Get rid of the human bullshit? Take my money.

Why wouldn't you pay more. I would pay 3x an Uber rate to not be driven by an illegal with a questionable license status. To avoid such things, I just pay a car service for every airport I land in.

How much of this is just new entrant, unprofitable disruption & pre-enshitification?

Like the first 5-10 years of zipcar…

This would change if there wasn’t a culture of giving 5 stars to every driver. It started because Uber unfairly punished good drivers for very good but honest 4/5 reviews, and now every Uber driver who uses their phone while driving or has an interior smelling of cigarette smoke gets 5 stars out of obligation.

I suspect they are more reliable and the end user experience is better.

Is it just a matter of Waymo being tourist attraction? Last time when I was in LA my friends and me, we had a rental car to go around, but we still took couple of Waymo rides just for fun. With enough demand from people who have "autonomous car ride" on their bucket list the price can be much higher, as Uber/Lyft are not really competing in the same category.

Well ya, it’s better

Unfortunately in Austin, Waymo have screwed the pooch by making their service only available through Uber, with no way of saying you only want Waymo instead of a human driver. I used an Uber the other day out of necessity, and the driver smelled so bad I had to stop the ride and get out.

Uber is increasingly annoying where it will delay putting in an order for a ride and then try to upsell you. As in upgrade to Uber plus or black to get a faster time. If there is a concert or game and big demand spike I get it. But it’s doing it on almost every ride in SF. Upsell nags are annoying but seemingly extending my trip time to upsell is unforgivable.

This is as much about Uber/Lyft, as it is about the (nonexistent) level of politeness in the vest (US+Europe).

Have you ever taken a Uber in Japan? The driver will make him/herself invisible. The space in the car is, factually, your space. No phone conversations on their part, no music, no odours.

Waymo won't thrive in Japan, because it offers nothing extra advantages to regular Uber.

We suck in the west in terms of customer friendliness.

There was a while, early on, where (at least in the areas I used it) the modal Uber driver was a college student or a (semi-)retired person looking for something to do. Generally polite, fluent in English, upwardly mobile or already successful. Cars were higher quality and cleaner than taxis.

Now, the modal Uber driver seems to be relatively rude, cannot speak English well, seems financially desperate, and drives a dirty/crappy car. Even if I pay extra for "comfort" I often get a pretty junky car. It's basically as bad as a taxi.

When the human element is a substantial net negative on the whole experience, I'll pay extra to avoid the human element.

I get motion sick more easily than most, and a Waymo is much much smoother than a typical uber driver. I am happy to pay a fairly large time&momey premium for this.

Not "people". Early adopters willing to pay the early adopter tax.

By the way, why hasn't all this automation triggered lower prices for anything? Why doesn't the self checkout at a supermarket give you a discount for doing their job?

It's like 5-10% more for a Waymo (which is nothing in the $10-30 range) and you don't have to talk to anyone and/or sit in awkward silence for the ride. Yeah, I'll pay that every time.

why is it surprising that Waymo costs more, and people pay anyway? Waymo is prioritizing safety over all things and is in gradual roll out mode.

The easiest way to contain demand is to raise prices.

and...what's not to love about riding in the future for a few bucks more?

I've only used Uber a handfull of times, and all of them at least 7 years ago - nothing recent.

Last time I used it was late at night, I had used an Uber to get Pizza but it was kind of far from my hotel. After eating I used it again to get a ride back. Unfortunately whatever driver it chose for me, decided to just SIT for an hour at their house (or somewhere). And then finally left. It was like 11pm, middle of nowhere and I was freezing cold.

I'd rather choose a Waymo than freeze my ass off. This was an area that had so few drivers (I wasn't from here so I had no idea).

Reading the comments here, the experiences people are sharing feels out-of-world since I live in Tokyo and it's unthinkable to have a bad experience in a Taxi/Shareride like that. They've always been very professional, the highest quality I could expect. Cars always clean, driver always polite, etc. Sure, there WILL be some edge case out there, but I've ridden taxis and Uber many times here and not a single odd experience, nothing at all like what is being described in these messages.

Surprise. I’m happy to pay Apple tax in return for ease of use and cancellation

The novelty of Waymo, as well as not having to interact with a stranger (especially for women, my wife used Waymo and liked it) makes Waymo a compelling option.

I would pay the extra since there's no driver to talk to me.

Turns out people value the experience (and their lives) ... huh.

After the initial 60 seconds of shock that nobody is at the wheel, the rest of the ride makes you quickly realize how much better AI is at driving than regular humans.

if products cost more than other products in a similar domain and people are paying anyway I would naturally assume the more expensive products are a luxury brand, and given some of the other comments here I'd think my assumption borne out.

If you pay more now you just proved to Waymo they can charge even more later. Way to go. Once they corner the market it will cost even more than uber/lyft/taxi today.

It might be more expensive now because it is novel, but over time, as it commoditizes and more competition enters, prices will likely go down.

Also, this is how the free market works. The actual users decide what something is worth based on using their wallets. Is it more valuable to have solitude and your own space in the car? Or better to have human interaction? The market will decide.

This bodes well for Tesla. After their product is fully ready and released, regardless if it takes 5 years, with any sense it's going to be the cheapest, will reach anywhere (no requirement for mapping, can reliably calculate to the limit of its range), AND have the privacy benefits of a self driving cab.

obvious paid advertisement is obvious

The novelty aside (I don’t live in a service region for Waymo, so I can only try it if I fly out to SFO for work), I will happily pay a premium to have a consistent experience where I don’t have to potentially deal with an obnoxious driver. That sounds misanthropic, I know, but for every good experience I’ve had where the car was clean and the driver was either silent, or interesting to talk to, I’ve had five others where that was not the case.

I admit I did not go further than the title, because I assume the conclusion is in the title.

Waymo is considerably cheaper in LA (at least in a region) than Uber. I have no clue about Lyft. I know this for a fact, because someone I know has taken Waymos and Ubers between the two identical points, around the same time of day, multiple times, and Waymo has always been way cheaper, considerably so.

I'll happily pay extra to never interact with another human. I'd live in a cave and yell at passersbys if I could.