This story was originally published by the Nashville Banner. Sign up for their newsletter at nashvillebanner.com/newsletters. ––– On April 7, the Google-born self-driving car company Waymo began offering its ride-hailing service in Nashville. The vehicles had been on the road for testing previously, but now anyone who downloads the app and receives an invite code from the company can order a ride and be picked up shortly by a car — just the car. If you haven't ridden one, you've likely seen them, moving driverless among the traffic like street-legal Roombas or carrying passengers in the backseat as pedestrians and other drivers pull out their smartphones to get a picture. Nashville is one of 11 cities where Waymo is currently operating, with 20 more said to be on the way. A company spokesperson couldn't provide the exact number of autonomous electric Jaguar I-PACE SUVs in its fleet here but said they're starting with around a couple dozen. That number will grow through Waymo's partnership with Lyft, which will include a large depot near the Nashville International Airport where vehicles will be charged, serviced and stored. For now, Waymo rides are available in a 60-square-mile service area inside the Briley Parkway loop, excluding interstates. Their arrival was heralded by locally viral incidents like one in which a Waymo apparently got stuck among the crowd near Lower Broadway or another where one ignored a school bus, rolling through a crosswalk as a seemingly confused child looked on. Discussion of Waymo (both positive and negative) has filled multiple threads on the Nashville subreddit, including one that got so heated the moderators decided to shut it down. A Nashville Banner social media post about the vehicles attracted responses ranging from one describing the riding experience as "perfect and relaxing" to another asking, "how do