Waymo Self-Driving Taxi Review | Making peace with autonomous driving technology
A review of the Waymo self-driving taxi service in San Francisco highlights the user experience, ease of app usage, and safety debates surrounding autonomous vehicles. Despite past controversies involving animal safety, the author finds the service to be a seamless and comfortable transportation option.
Why it matters
As autonomous vehicle technology scales, consumer adoption and safety perceptions are critical factors for the future of urban transportation.
On October 27, 2025, a car ran over a cat in San Francisco. Oceans away, I filed a report on the tragic killing of nine-year-old KitKat. Why did news about the death of a cat in California make international headlines? That’s because KitKat was run over by a self-driving Waymo car, owned by Google-parent Alphabet. The company runs a fleet of self-driving electric taxis that are gradually being deployed across cities in the U.S.
While local residents slammed Waymo’s safety standards and erected a monument for KitKat, supporters of self-driving cars pointed out that thousands of animals are run over by human-driven cars every year. Robotaxis, on the other hand, are designed to become safer with every iteration, they claimed.
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