By Emma Cropsey / News Reporter and Managing Editor
Some motorists may have noticed a bizarre sight driving alongside them more and more frequently in the past few months: a white sedan equipped with a large, rapidly spinning camera on its roof and smaller ones in the rear. The high-tech sensors, however, are not the strangest part about these cars — rather, it’s that there are no humans in the driver’s seat.
These futuristic vehicles are Waymos, the newest addition to Nashville’s transportation network. Waymo is a ride hailing company similar to Uber or Lyft, only with a high-tech twist: its vehicles are completely autonomous. What began in 2009 as a Google experiment was eventually established as an independent company under Alphabet, and in 2019 Waymo introduced their innovative technology to Phoenix, Ariz.It has since expanded to 17 cities, including Atlanta, Los Angeles, Seattle and even Tokyo.
Now, Waymo has officially moved into Nashville. Waymos first began to appear in 2025 as the company began testing its vehicles, a process it has to complete in each new city before offering rides to the public. This includes mapping the area and updating the vehicles’ programming to account for specific safety laws and traffic conditions. During this phase, the vehicles are not completely driverless; human specialists still sit behind the wheel to monitor the cars.
On Feb. 9, 2026, Waymo announced on X that their vehicles have now gone fully autonomous in Nashville. While cars are not yet available for the public to use,
Photo by David Paul Morris.
this signifies a step closer to the end of the testing period. Waymo has posted on their website that users will be able to order vehicles sometime in 2026.
So, what are commuters saying about the new vehicles?
Louise Kohler, mother of senior Lulu Kohler, has ridden in a Waymo several times in Phoenix. When asked about her opinions on the car, she said, “Each ride was a great experience, and it felt especially fun the first few times because it was so novel. The drive was smooth and steady, and the ‘car’ spoke to me at all times.”
However, because the technology is fairly recent, autonomous vehicles are still struggling to work out some kinks. In 2024, Waymo had to issue recalls after one of its vehicles crashed into a telephone pole and another into a truck that was being towed. It is also facing a probe from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration after multiple cars failed to stop for school buses.
Waymo, on the other hand, claims that its cars are actually safer than human drivers, pointing out a 92% decrease in pedestrian accidents and an 81% decrease in injury-causing crashes.
When asked about the safety of the vehicle, Mrs. Kohler said it felt very safe. “The car interacts directly with your cell phone, and as I approached the car, it recognized my phone and the doors unlocked to welcome me. Inside, there was a digital screen which identified where my car was on a map and in relation to all other traffic at all times.”
Besides safety uncertainties, legal questions also remain with the vehicles. Who exactly, for example, is responsible when a safety violation occurs? Is it the company? The driver? The software or vehicle developer? Because the technology is so new, the answer to this issue is still unclear.
The rise of autonomous cars also presents another problem: the replacement of human jobs. “While I have no problem moving to automated cars, I am concerned that displaced drivers may be left jobless and unsatisfied,” Mrs. Kohler said. “Many Uber and Lyft drivers that I have spoken to really enjoy their jobs and passenger interaction. What will those people do instead? This is part of a much bigger issue society faces as we become increasingly automated.”
How these new driverless vehicles will be received in a city whose public transportation struggles to keep up with a booming population and a heavy flow of tourists is still in question. The 2024 U.S. Census named Nashville as one of the fastest growing metropolitan areas in the nation, but in the same year, a Traffic Scoreboard report ranked Nashville as the 11th worst city in the U.S. in terms of traffic congestion.
While these new vehicles are quickly gaining their place on Nashville’s roads, it remains to be seen if they’ll gain the trust of Nashvillians themselves.
