Driverless taxis: of 5 promised dates, 1 came true on time; the first services were 1 to 2 years late
- GM Cruise: rides by 20192.4 years late
- Waymo: driverless by 20191.1 years late
- Waymo: service by 20181.8 years late
- Waymo with Uber by 2025on time
- Lyft: most rides by 2021not yet
Of 5 promised dates, 1 came true on time; the first services were 1 to 2 years late.
Waymo opened rides with nobody at the wheel 1.1 years after the deadline, Cruise 2.4 years after. Lyft promised that most of its rides would be driverless by 2021; that did not happen.
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In the mid-2010s the companies building self-driving cars promised driverless taxis soon. Here are five such promises: Waymo (formerly a Google project), Cruise (a General Motors company) and the ride-hailing service Lyft.
A row is one promise: who, what and by when. The question is whether at least half came true. Answer Yes or No, or just open the answer: each row gets its outcome and what actually came of it, the card a stamp counting those that came true. Quotes and links to the facts are below.
- Lyft: most rides by 2021 — John Zimmer, co-founder and president of Lyft, 2016 years past the deadline
promised by 2021; not happened by 11 October 2026. By 2021 autonomous vehicles on Lyft’s platform were limited to partner fleets in Las Vegas and Miami, and Lyft had sold its own self-driving unit.
- GM Cruise: rides by 2019 — General Motors, 2018 years past the deadline
promised by 2019; happened 2 June 2022 (2.4 years late). Cruise was authorised to charge for driverless rides in San Francisco on 2 June 2022 — 2.4 years after the deadline.
California Public Utilities Commission, Resolution TL-19137 (2022-06-02)
- Waymo: service by 2018 — Waymo, 2018 years past the deadline
promised by 2018; happened 8 October 2020 (1.8 years late). The paid Waymo One service opened on 5 December 2018, but with a safety driver behind the wheel; rides with no one at the wheel opened to the public in October 2020.
- Waymo: driverless by 2019 — Chris Urmson, 2015 years past the deadline
promised by 2019; happened 8 October 2020 (1.1 years late). Waymo opened fully driverless rides to the general public (in part of the Phoenix area) in October 2020, about a year after the implied date (September 2019).
- Waymo with Uber by 2025 — Waymo, 2024 years past the deadline
promised by 2025; happened 4 March 2025 (on time). Waymo rides via Uber opened in Austin on 4 March 2025 and in Atlanta on 24 June 2025.
Promises: verbatim from the primary sources, executives’ talks, company press releases and reports. The date of the event is from a primary source, linked on the back for each row. The delay is counted from the end of the promised period: «by 2020» from the end of 2020, «in October» from the end of October. Outcome: «came true» — the promised number reached by the deadline («about» within 5%), an event happened before the end of the year promised; «exceeded» — with room to spare; «nearly» — short by no more than 10%; «late» — reached, but after the deadline; «did not come true» — not reached; «came true, then undone» — reached, then reversed. The deadline is the end of the year named.
An abandoned goal is left out: Ford promised driverless taxis by 2021 and in 2022 moved the money to driver assistance. Waymo opened a paid service in December 2018, but with a safety driver at the wheel; here the event is rides with nobody at the wheel, October 2020. Cruise stopped its rides after a crash in 2023.
A question for this picture
Why do driverless taxis run in some cities and still not in others?