I Took a Waymo for the First Time and It Was Awesome.

I have spent a lot of time thinking about the future of our cities and campuses. A big part of that future is transportation. A small but exciting sector within the transportation industry is autonomous vehicles (AVs). Up until recently, everything I had learned was theoretical. I read articles, went to some events, and studied some research papers on the topic but I had never actually stepped foot in an autonomous vehicle.

Until now.

I was in Phoenix, Arizona for a conference, and decided to try out a Waymo from the Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to the Grand Hyatt Resort in Scottsdale.

I was in town for the Tradeline, Inc. College and Universities Facilities conference, surrounded by facilities leaders, planners, designers, builders, and operators who spend their days thinking about the built environment.

(Hat tip to Derek Westfall and his team for planning and hosting an amazing event. Shout out to d'Andre Willis, AIA, LEED AP, James Kellerhouse, R. J. Panda, Michael Joy, AIA, LEED AP, NCARB, Tyler Patrick, the Occuspace team, Rich Dengler AIA, WELL AP, Haleigh Ryan, Rob Voss, Kalyn Pavlinic, NCIDQ, LEEP AP and plenty more awesome people who attended. I'll be writing more about that experience soon.)

Phoenix is one of the few places in the United States where autonomous vehicles are not a pilot program or a novelty. They are an authorized and accepted part of the daily transportation system. People use them to get to work, go to dinner, and catch flights.

So I decided to try it. Spoiler: it was awesome!

Here's my full video review of the ride - while in the Waymo!

My journey started at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. After landing, I took the Sky Train to the 44th Street station. That part of the trip felt routine. Airports are good at moving people. Clear signage. Predictable systems. Familiar rhythms.

When I got to the 44th Street station (which was recommended by Gemini as a better pickup spot because it is less crowded and on the north side of the airport, which was closer to my destination.)

Signage within the airport terminal and the train station was everywhere. Clear directions. Obvious pathways. Logical instructions. The wayfinding system was easy to follow. Within minutes, I was in the vehicle and on my way.

That operational clarity matters more than people realize. Technology adoption is rarely limited by hardware or software. It is limited by friction. If the process is confusing, people avoid it. If the process is simple, people embrace it. Phoenix has clearly invested in making the experience easy.

I opened the Waymo app to hail a ride.

Immediately, the user interface looked very similar to Uber. That was a smart move by Waymo. People do not like learning entirely new systems. They prefer familiar patterns. If the technology feels recognizable, adoption becomes much easier. Within seconds, I had requested a ride.

The app showed the vehicle approaching. A small digital map displayed the car’s progress in real time. Nothing unusual there. But when the vehicle pulled up, the reality hit me that I might be stepping into the future right now.

There was no driver. It was just me and the car.

My first impressions center around calmness and how thoughtful the experience of getting into the car actually felt. I opened the door and sat down in the back seat. The interior felt “normal” (albeit, a slightly nicer upgrade with the Jaguar SUVs.)  No flashing lights. No futuristic control panels. No dramatic sounds (though the car did sync with my Google Music playlists, which was a nice touch.) In the backseat, there was a large screen showing the route and status of the trip.

That normalcy mattered. Technology often fails when it feels intimidating or too other worldly. I pressed the start button on the screen, and the car began to move.

As the car started on its way, one of my first concern was simple: how would it drive? Acceleration was great. (Electric vehicles do have faster acceleration than gas-powered vehicles in general.) But even so, the acceleration felt like a perfectly calculated freshman year physics calculation.  The vehicle pulled away from the curb smoothly. No hesitation. No sudden surge. It felt confident. Like an experienced driver who knows exactly how much pressure to apply to the pedal.

Braking was also strong. The car slowed steadily as it approached intersections and traffic signals. There was one minor quirk as the vehicle moved from about 3 miles per hour down to a full stop, there was a slight chop. Not dangerous or dramatically uncomfortable. Just a subtle reminder that software was in control.

Otherwise, the ride felt natural. No hurry. No jerky or aggressive movements. (It almost drove too safely!) Just steady, predictable driving.

One of the most interesting behaviors happened at red lights. As the vehicle approached each intersection, it centered itself precisely within the lane. The positioning was exact. Even more impressive (or buggy?), when the system determined that additional centering was needed, the blinker would automatically activate. The signal communicated intent to surrounding vehicles, just like a human driver would do.

Most human drivers treat lane positioning casually. They wander slightly left or right. They roll forward at lights. They make subtle adjustments based on habit rather than precision. This vehicle did not wander, but instead followed all the rules like you’re supposed to.

The trip stayed on surface roads. There was a faster route to the hotel via highways, but not every Waymo experience (as of this writing) will use the highways. Either way, I didn’t mind the few extra minutes. I had time to spare (and could have spent the next 2 hours in the car just admiring all the technology.) The vehicle remained in the middle lane for most of the journey, and maintained the speed limit exactly.

By the time the ride ended, one thought kept repeating in my head: I am living in the future right now.

Autonomous vehicles are operational, and they are coming to a city near you (if they haven’t already made their way to you.). They are integrated into the transportation network, and move real people through real streets every day. And they are doing it reliably.

For planners, operators, and campus leaders, that reality has serious implications. Transportation systems shape land use. Land use shapes infrastructure. Infrastructure shapes investment decisions. When transportation changes, everything else follows.

In the coming weeks, I’ll be writing some in depth notes on my thoughts on how cities and campuses can help shape their built environments to adapt to this amazing future technology. There is a deep conversation to be had about autonomous vehicles and the future of cities and campuses.

But for now, I’ll just be a fan boy. And after one ride, I would use it again without hesitation.