Is Anyone Safe In A Car With No Driver? Jump In For Nashville’s Wildest Ride

This article is part of Upstream, The Daily Wire’s new home for culture and lifestyle. Real human insight and human stories — from our featured writers to you.

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After establishing its self-driving reputation in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Phoenix, Waymo officially launched in Nashville on Tuesday. Despite a ride invite waitlist that’s “tens of thousands” of people long, I was lucky enough to snag an exclusive ride-along with Waymo spokesperson Mark Lewis in downtown Music City. 

Did I imagine myself dying alone in a fiery crash? Yes. But after a stellar spin around town, I do declare that autonomous car life is finer than frog hair, y’all. (Hoping that sounded slightly Southern.) You might even call it a “quiet luxury” if you were Meghan Markle trying to sell scented candles.

“We know for a new rider that this can sometimes be an anxious experience,” Lewis reassured me as we buckled up to the soothing sounds of Waymo entrance music. “We really want to get you in the right mindset … We’re gonna take care of you,” I screamed as we began our 5 mph journey to the nearest stop sign like I was on a roller coaster. Mostly because it was terrifyingly cool. 

Waymo launched in Nashville! Would you ride in a driverless car? pic.twitter.com/k8aEDyb5oq

— Lauren Bair (@LaurenBairDW) April 9, 2026

If you’re already a fan of Uber or Lyft, you’re familiar with the ol’ download the app, call a ride, rate, and tip routine. While I have fond memories of not being able to find an Uber that was allegedly “waiting” for me, listening to a driver’s tear-jerking overshare, or being at the mercy of someone’s recreational cannabis habit, Waymo delivers an elevated experience. Just get in the car, and let AI do all the work. 

You can be the hero of your own driverless journey by customizing the legroom, temperature, and music via the app or the touchscreen inside the car. Go for party energy with up to four riders, or enjoy peaceful me-time until you reach your destination. Imagine it less like a horse-drawn carriage racing through Frontier Town USA and more like a high-end day spa on wheels. You won’t even feel the road. 

Along with offering possibly the most comfortable ride in the industry, Waymo puts safety first. And each car is outfitted with the kind of tech that makes the flying cars of “The Jetsons” feel adorably low-budget. The car arrives locked and opens only for you.

“These peculiar things sticking out, and spinning things,” Lewis told me, help the Waymo Driver gauge “where it is and where to go.” Comparing Waymo sensors to human eyes and ears, he added, “With a Waymo, we have 29 ‘eyes.’” That includes six radars, four LiDARs (the rotating lasers that construct an extraordinarily detailed 3D world for Waymo, day and night), and four audio sensors listening for emergency sirens. 

Waymo maps every inch of the city, from traffic cones to speed bumps. My car gracefully avoided a jaywalker who jumped out in front of us, as well as several dog walkers and a homeless man pushing a grocery cart into the street. It cautiously entered traffic almost as if it were really looking both ways, like a person. Probably because it sees in every direction all at once. 

Waymo wants to be “the world’s most trusted driver,” and I’ll gladly preach the gospel. Boasting a 92% reduction in overall crashes compared to human drivers, the fully autonomous Waymo Driver, as it’s called, has clocked more hours on the road than a human ever could. “It’s the most experienced driver around,” Lewis told me. “The Waymo Driver drives more than seven lifetimes of a human driver in a week.” All in, it’s analyzed 170 million miles of autonomous driving, and counting.

Yes, there are stories floating around about Waymo cars zigzagging through streets, missing stop signs, and causing traffic jams, along with a few reported violations of regional school bus laws. Since Google first started testing its self-driving car in 2009, Waymo vehicles have been involved in two fatal collisions caused by drivers of other cars. While distracted human driving results in a fatality every 2.5 hours, the Waymo Driver has yet to be responsible for any deaths. Maybe it has one up on the rest of us when it comes to navigating without texting or opening up a bag of chips for the road. Waymo is “13 times safer than a human driver when it comes to serious accidents or worse,” Lewis says.

Beyond its spotless record, Waymo aims to help users thrive, providing a resource for those in need of reliable transportation. “People with disabilities, people with service animals that may need more time to board,” utilize partnerships that Waymo forms in each city, Lewis noted. In Nashville, the company partners with the National Federation of The Blind and AgeWell to offer “a vehicle that is dependable, that shows up exactly when it says, that will wait and be patient with you … It’s really powerful that we can serve those communities.”

It’s also a super great option for bachelorettes who partied too hard on Broadway. (There’s even an easy-to-find “pull over” button in case any skinny margs might be coming back up.) Woo! 

I also enjoyed not having to enter the shame spiral involved in choosing the gender of my driver, or weighing whether I should care about offsetting my carbon footprint enough to pay more for it, like other ride-shares. Waymo’s all-electric fleet leaves zero emissions on the street. And if you have a question, you can press the support button to talk with a human on the other end.

Your chariot — a sleek Jaguar I-PACE SUV — awaits. And new vehicles are slated to join the lineup (like the Waymo Ojai that looks like a minivan and offers more leg room, and the Hyundai Ioniq). While Waymo’s rates used to be significantly higher than those of Uber or Lyft, recent numbers show a difference of just a few bucks, as Waymo prices drop and other rideshares rise. I’d gladly pay an extra $2 to eliminate an awkward conversation about my driver’s male modeling side-hustle on the way to the airport. Make that $20.

I was daydreaming about Waymo long after I watched it drive off into the sunset to pick up its next guest. Waymo might stand for “a new way forward in mobility,” but if I still had my Trapper Keeper from high school, I would be scribbling “Lauren + Waymo” with bubble hearts on the cover. Further solidifying my crush, I got my official Waymo invite the next day. “Where to, Lauren?” it asked, prompting me to set the soundtrack for my next Nashville adventure. (Swoon!) 

Still hesitant to jump into a car with “no driver”? I promise the journey’s just as fun as the destination. Now that Waymo’s in Nashville, and almost certainly coming to a city near you, all you have to do is download the app and enjoy the ride.