Waymo’s gross booking numbers in San Francisco have already bested Lyft … and its looming service buildout threatens the already fragile earnings from ridershare workers.
Waymo’s monopoly on autonomous rideshare in San Francisco remains unchecked. Amazon-owned Zoox is readying a fleet of driverless vehicles — its most viral and eye-catching model resembling a Cuisinart Air Fryer — but is only offering public bookings in Las Vegas as of publishing; Zoox teased SF was getting bookable services “very soon”… over six months ago.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced Waymo had secured its much-desired operating permit on Tuesday — a decision that came after months of Waymo testing to map the airport’s roadways, pickup locations, and traffic barriers. (Lurie was also a major pushing force in securing Waymo’s impending operation on what is otherwise a car-free Market Street.)
Publicly shared documents outline that Waymo’s SFO rollout will follow three phases. Per a press release by the Office of the Mayor, Waymo will test its vehicles around the airport with a human driver; after that, fully autonomous drives will follow the same routes that will transport either Waymo employees or SFO workers; the third and final phase will see the company allow regular bookings for passengers in applicable service areas.
Waymo’s expansion to SFO will garner widespread applause and blind giddiness whenever it rolls out, all while simultaneously having major financial consequences for an increasingly disenfranchised working cohort: gig workers for rideshare companies.
Years ago, I wrote a piece highlighting the (still relevant) epidemic of rideshare drivers who lived in their vehicles either full-time as a means of shelter or part-time when traveling to more desirable metros. The combination of car maintenance, travel expenses — an insider tip led me to later confirm nearby airport hotels were routinely booked by longtime rideshare drivers, who used the rooms to shower and find respite between shifts — and taxes meant these gig economy workers, who routinely worked 60-plus hour weeks, barely made above minimum wage.
That piece was officially published in 2019. Almost seven years later, little has changed; if anything, the wage disparities have only increased. And Waymo’s impending SFO rollout means the Google-owned autonomous driving company will consume even more of San Francisco’s rideshare bookings.
Data published by YipitData in June showed Waymo, which only began offering public rides in SF about a year ago, holds a larger market share of gross rideshare bookings than Lyft — a business that launched in San Francisco 13 years ago. Moreover, the findings validated what rideshare drivers across San Francisco had anecdotally shared since 2024: Waymo’s operation in SF is directly affecting their earnings.
Rideshare drivers will soon be even more “cooked.”
Forecast reports released by Uber in August revealed that 15% of the platform’s gross bookings come from airport pickups and drop-offs. Lyft doesn’t currently have public data on the topic, but one can only infer that airport rides, to some extent, make up a similar gross bookings share. One could then speculate that Waymo’s looming SFO rollout would consume a hefty amount of all airport rideshare bookings in San Francisco — besting even Lyft’s numbers.
Airport pickups and drop-offs, too, remain among the highest-earning rides conducted by gig economy drivers; it’s a proverbial salting of the wound for a working-class Bay Area cohort that is already struggling to make ends meet.
Waymo’s newness is novel. It’s fun to ride shotgun and glimpse into the future. But never lose sight of the humanness that’s vital to our very well-being. And perhaps tip your Lyft or Uber driver a lil’ more than usual next time you’re SFO-bound.
Feature Image: Courtesy of Flickr via [at]waltarrrrr
