A self-driving Waymo parks on Austin street corner in March. Credit: Michael Karlis

Self-driving cars are coming to San Antonio. Well, sorta.

This week, a fleet of roughly 10 Waymos — the self-driving ride-hailing vehicles developed by Google’s parent company, Alphabet Inc. — will hit Alamo City streets. The company’s pilot project could determine whether it ultimately rolls out service here.

“This continuous learning process helps us expand our autonomous driving capabilities as we work toward introducing our technology to more cities,” Waymo spokesperson Sandy Karp said in a statement.

Despite SA residents expressing fear about Waymo’s arrival in the R/San Antonio reddit thread, the vehicles being used locally will be accompanied by handlers, according to the company. The human wranglers will manually drive the cars to help them get accustomed to the city’s streets — and its sometimes-erratic motorists.

Waymo, which launched public service in 2022, now operates fleets of self-driving taxis in five markets, including San Francisco, Silicon Valley, Phoenix, Los Angeles and Austin. The company uses light detection and ranging, or LiDAR, technology for its vehicles, which some studies show is safer and more dependable than self-driving systems that rely heavily on Artificial Intelligence.

Even so, viral videos of Waymos misbehaving have circulated online, including one viral clip where a car trapped a man inside and drove in continuous circles while en route to the Phoenix airport.

Complaints from Waymo’s Austin rollout also include accusations that the vehicles stalled, sped, blew past security checkpoints and blocked police escorts, according to public records obtained by TV station Fox 7 Austin.

Earlier this month, Waymo recalled more than 1,200 of its self-driving rides due to faulty software that caused them to crash into chains, gates and other roadway barriers. Nevertheless, the malfunctions didn’t result in any injuries.

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This article appears in May 14-27, 2025.

Michael Karlis is a multimedia journalist at the San Antonio Current, whose coverage in print and on social media focuses on local and state politics. He is a graduate of American University in Washington,...