Waymo's fully autonomous driving technology is expanding. Fox Eleven's Chelsea Edwards tried it out tonight and joins us live with a look at her ride. Chelsea?
Yeah, there is no more waitlist. There were 300,000 Angelenos on it at one point, but now anyone can get a robotaxi in this 80 square mile zone that essentially stretches from Santa Monica to downtown LA. And I have to admit, I've been on the fence about getting in one of these things.
I see them everywhere. But tonight I finally had to try it. It is the most advanced, fully autonomous driving technology in the world today.
And now it's available to everyone in L. A. It's designed to be really easy to use.
All you have to do is download the app, put in your information, I've done this several times and it keeps saying that there server errors, but now it says I have a ride coming in two minutes and there it is. I almost want to wave to it, but obviously there's nobody inside. I know that this one is mine because it has my initials right there.
See at the top. So I should just be able to unlock it on the app. Pretty cool.
Let's check it out. All right. All right.
So inside we've got nice music playing obviously no driver. And I've got the prompts here on the screen. So let's start ride.
Hello from Waymo. As we get going just give us one minute to cover a few riding tips. After some safety reminders, we were off through the Fairfax District, navigating through hundreds of cars and pedestrians.
Our car did have to honk a couple times. It's just it's honking at that car. Oh man, look at that.
Oh my gosh. Oh my God. But all in all, it was a smooth trip.
Got temperature control. I'm not going to touch any of those obviously. Ooh.
Making it nice and warm. It's cold out. Angelenos seem mixed about whether they're ready to try it.
It just doesn't feel right. It feels like no one's in control. I trust it enough.
No, because I would be too scared to get into a car with nobody driving it. Would you get in one of these actually do sometimes. It's pretty fun.
My mind is was blown. The first time. His mind was blown.
I have to say, ours kind of were, too. It was a pretty incredible experience. Now, again, this is only available in 80mi█ !
S of L. A. County.
Right now it doesn't go to the Valley, for instance, or South LA. It also does not do drop offs or pick ups at LAX, and it doesn't go on freeways. But of course, the company says this is only the beginning.
Reporting live from the Fairfax district. I'm Chelsea Edwards. Send it back to you in the studio.
So would you ride it again? And how do you compare it to, like, an Uber?
