They're the present here in SF, driving every day and more safely than the humans do. And as a human driver, I can testify that these streets are not particularly easy to drive on.
The hard thing is that every other human car acts randomly because they don't say, have winter tires, and unlike waymo, don't have the very quick control loop.
It is also funny to watch them get stuck behind busses, having followed too close to safely go around them when the bus stops to pickup/dropoff.
Also Ive seen multiple instances of them trying to turn left on red and pull far enough into an intersection to cause issues.
Finally when I am on my skateboard they dont seem to recognize me as they drive very very close and fast, though I havent felt risky enough to really test this.
That's why they've done winter testing in Tahoe (since 2017) and Buffalo NY (last winter).
They seem to undercut Uber and Lyft by a hair. Given the longer wait times, and lack of a need to tip, that seems fair. (In San Francisco, they undercut by a wider margin. But human ride shares are more expensive there for a variety of reasons.)
Hmm, I used them this weekend and was comparing pricing. Waymo was cheaper. That said, I wasn’t riding during peak traffic. And in peak traffic, I’d vastly prefer a Waymo. So I get the premium pricing.