Waymos are everywhere in much of LA. But how many people are taking them?

Waymos sometimes feel like they’re all over many parts of Los Angeles, but the vast majority of Angelenos haven’t been quick to adopt the new technology.

About 5% of L.A. County residents have taken a driverless vehicle in the last year, compared to about 28% who used ridehailing apps like Uber and Lyft, according to the results of a USC survey published Thursday.

Sociologist Kyla Thomas directs the LABarometer survey, which measures the habits and wellbeing of L.A. County residents, and decided to add questions about driverless vehicle use for the first time since the driverless cars became open to the public in November 2024 — largely out of curiosity.

“Certainly in my neighborhood in Culver City, I see Waymos everywhere,” Thomas said. “But when you look at the whole county population, how many people are actually using it?”

Why not Waymo?

The survey found that slightly more people felt safe using a ridehailing app versus a robotaxi — 12% versus 9% — but 27% of people feel safe driving themselves.

“Waymos have not reached, in terms of safety, the comfort level that people feel in their own car,” Thomas said.

LAist has reached out to Waymo for comment, but hasn't heard back.

Thomas also mentioned convenience and availability as reasons why people aren’t taking Waymos — the cars don’t yet serve any major airports, let alone operate in the San Fernando or San Gabriel valleys, Southeast L.A., and most of the rest of L.A. County. Waymo doesn’t yet have any robotaxi competitors offering rides to the public in the region.

 “Currently, Waymo's coverage area is not as wide as Uber or Lyft, and so as that expands, we might see Waymo use expand,” Thomas said. “I'm very curious to see how this evolves.”

One of the biggest reasons why Waymo and other ridehailing services don’t have more riders in L.A. won’t be a surprise: People overwhelmingly drive themselves. Of the survey’s respondents, 91% were drivers or passengers in private vehicles, by far the most common method of transportation.

For comparison, the next most-common category of transportation — walking, skateboards and kick scooters — was used by just 30% of survey respondents.

Other impressions of Waymo

Though people felt less safe in Waymos compared to cars with drivers in them, that perception flipped when people were asked about how safe they felt from harassment — at least for one major demographic.

“Women feel a lot safer in a Waymo compared to an Uber or Lyft,” Thomas said. “Men, we just see just a few percentage point difference in how they're perceiving these different modes.”

Thomas added that she’s already wondering whether Waymo use will become more common if its service area continues to expand.

“We see a small drop in use of traditional ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft in the last year,” Thomas said. “I wonder if Waymo is responsible for that — are we going to see Waymo slowly replace these?  Or how will perceptions of safety evolve? I'm very, very curious to keep tracking that.”