Waymo Vs. Cruise in San Francisco: Who Drove It Better?

Much ado has been made of San Francisco’s major autonomous vehicle companies, Google-owned Waymo and General Motors-backed Cruise. Cruise and Waymo offered very different routing options, with the Waymo choosing a more direct route along busier roadways and Cruise opting for a more circuitous route. Cars, Apps, Hardware and GamesAt first glance, Cruise cars are most readily identifiable, with their blood orange stripes and clunky rooftop robotaxi gear. Waymo cars offer a slightly sleeker experience: Set in a mid-sized Jaguar SUV, the all-white car—sans cutesy name—blends in slightly better with other cars on the road and relies on minimal branding. A cohort of anti-autonomous vehicle activists in San Francisco has even taken to placing traffic cones on the hoods of Cruise and Waymo robotaxis to literally stop their progress.