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Austin · ride · hail · 2026-09-09

Waymo

The local quirk: you hail it inside the Uber app, not Waymo's own.

Request a normal ride and Uber may offer a Waymo; its settings let you say yes to driverless every time or never.

Waymo app (iOS / Android). We do not book.

Live here
App StoreGoogle Playwaymo.com
KidsUnder 8 needs a seat you bring
Group4 max · a fifth is two rides
PetsService animals only

Yes · Waymo (inside Uber) and Tesla Robotaxi carry riders, including Cybercab in limited parts of Austin. Zoox is on the road here but not a public hail.

How Waymo works anywhere · The Austin picture

The ride, in order

  1. Set your pickup and destination.The app moves your pin to a spot the car can legally stop at, which may be around the corner from where you stand.
  2. The car arrives LOCKED.Unlock it from the app, or set doors to unlock automatically. From the lock screen you can also honk the horn to find it, which is the fastest way in a crowd or with low vision.
  3. Luggage goes in the trunk: open it from the app or the physical button on the car.
  4. Get in, buckle up, then tap Start ride on the in-car screen or in the app.It will not move until you do.
  5. Need out early?Tap Pull over in the app or on the screen and it finds a safe spot.
  6. Stuck?Support on the in-car screen, the Help tab in the app, or 1-844-261-3753.
App StoreGoogle Playwaymo.com
How long it waitsThe app tells you how long the car will hold.Miss that window and the ride cancels, the car leaves, and you may be charged a no-show fee.
Worth knowingIt drives defensively, so expect firmer braking than a human would use.That is the system working, not a fault.

Also on the road, not hailable. Zoox lists Austin as now arriving, not live, on zoox.com/where-to-ride. The 25 Mar 2026 journal still has rides for employees, family and friends. That is not a service you can hail.

What a ride costs

Checked 2026-09-09

~$1.40-2.50/mi

Typical ride ~$20

Magnitude from mid-2026 reporting. Shape, not a quote. It changes without notice. The app quotes before you confirm.

The rules that decide whether you can ride at all

Kids and car seatsUnder 8 needs a car or booster seat, secured in the back, and Waymo does not supply one.The front seat is 8 and up. A minor cannot ride alone at all unless they have a teen account, which is Waymo's, ages 14 to 17, and has been Phoenix only. Confirm it in the app for your city before you plan around it, because that is the kind of limit that widens without an announcement.
How many of youFour passengers maximum in a Waymo, and the same in a Zoox pod.Tesla Cybercab is two seats. A fifth person means two rides. Confirm the vehicle in the Tesla Robotaxi app.
AnimalsService animals ride.Pets do not.
BagsTrunk access at every stop including the airport ones.Open it from the app or the button on the car, and load it yourself.
Left something behindReport it through the app form or on 1-844-261-3753, then collect from the depot, which is open around the clock.Items are held 10 days, and food, bottles, umbrellas and smoking gear are not kept at all. Waymo is explicit that it is not responsible for what you leave and does not reimburse.

Airport in Austin

AUS · Austin-BergstromNo published Waymo curb at AUS.Tesla's June 2026 metro map was reported to include the airport area; airport property is a separate permission, so confirm a live pickup pin in the Robotaxi app before you count on it. Otherwise a rideshare or the rental counter.

Published curbs in other cities do not apply here.

Other Waymo airport curbs (other cities)
PHX · Phoenix Sky HarborTerminals 3 and 4, Level 1 outer curb, South Door 8.Or the Sky Train stations at 24th and 44th Street, with trains every 3-5 minutes.
SAT · San AntonioPickups are from the Arrivals outer curb at Rideshare Zone 2, not the terminal door.Drop-offs are curbside at Departures for both Terminal A and B. Walking to Departures expecting a pickup is the common mistake here.
SFO · San FranciscoNOT the terminal curb.You take the AirTrain to the Rental Car Center (about 15 minutes) or the Grand Hyatt (about 10). Access is still limited to some riders.
SJC · San José MinetaTerminal A pickups at Stop 9, Terminal B pickups outside the Rental Car Center.Drop-offs are curbside at Departures.

Details from Waymo's own pages and dated reporting, checked 2026-09-09. The app is ground truth. Past the geofence the trip coach picks up · plan the rental half of the trip.

To hail, get their app

We stay on this page for the how-to. The hail itself is in Waymo.

App StoreGoogle Playwaymo.com

After the hail

Own the FSD-class car

If unsupervised rides clicked, sketch a monthly Tesla lease in Austin. Numbers are payment floors · FSD (Supervised) is a Tesla software option, not inside these comps.

Comps as of 2026-09-03 · Austin when we have a local mid · not a quote · Keep the class in Garage, or open Lease.

Open Garage · Lease bay

Open Waymo appKeep this city

Did you hail? Keep Austin · then Garage. How a first Waymo ride works · then their app.