Is Waymo cheaper than Uber?

Obi's San Francisco study

The most detailed comparison comes from Obi, an app that compares ride prices. For its winter study it pulled 94,348 Bay Area rides through its pricing API and set Waymo against UberX, Lyft Standard and Tesla's ride service. TechCrunch published the Waymo and Uber dollar averages, and Obi's own page has the Tesla and Lyft figures.

Average fares came to Waymo $19.69, Uber $17.47 and Lyft $15.47. That put Waymo 12.7% above Uber and 27.3% above Lyft, a smaller premium than the 30-40% range of a year earlier.

Both sides moved. Waymo's average slipped 3.6% from $20.43 in April 2025. Over the same stretch Uber's climbed about 12% from $15.58, and Lyft's rose 7% from $14.44.

Tesla averaged $8.17, with a caveat attached. Its San Francisco service runs with employee drivers under a charter permit, so it isn't a driverless robotaxi. By the kilometer, Obi measured Waymo at $5.72 and Tesla at $1.99.

The spring 2026 follow-up

Obi's follow-up looked at searches from March 1 to April 14, 2026, using the same pickup and destination for each service and trips between 500 m and 50 km. Against the winter window, Waymo's average price went up 18% (4% per mile). Uber rose 5% and Lyft 12%, while Tesla jumped 41%.

That study reported percentage changes, not fresh dollar averages. Waymo's average still rose faster than Uber's, which suggests the 12.7% winter gap did not keep shrinking into spring.

Phoenix examples, as reported

Outside San Francisco there is less to go on. A September 2026 article in the Denver Gazette cited two Phoenix comparisons from RideWise, and neither Waymo nor Uber has confirmed them.

For a 4.5-mile trip from downtown to Camelback, Waymo came to $13.45 and UberX to $8.80, or $10.12 after a 15% tip. The 14-mile run from downtown to Sky Harbor airport was $33.20 on Waymo and $22.40 on UberX, which rises to $25.76 with the tip.

Obi's CEO, quoted in the same piece, said Waymo runs 30-40% pricier than Uber and Lyft in its markets and as much as 2x at San Francisco peaks.

Wait times are part of the price

A lower fare is worth less if the car takes longer to show up. Waymo's average wait in the winter study was 5.74 minutes, up from 4.28, while Uber averaged 3.15 minutes and Lyft 5.14. Tesla's human-driven service took 15.32 minutes, which goes some way to explaining its low price.

Waymo's fares can also shift with demand and availability, and its app gives an estimate before you book. For your own route, the fairest test is to open the Waymo estimate and the Uber quote for the same trip at the same moment.

Robotaxi rides at regular Uber or Lyft prices

Some cities let you ride in an automated vehicle for the price of an ordinary request. According to Uber, UberX, Uber Comfort or Comfort Electric requests in Dallas may be matched with an Avride vehicle at no additional cost. Motional rides in Las Vegas work the same way on UberX, Uber Electric, Uber Comfort or Comfort Electric requests. Both carry a safety driver, with a person behind the wheel.

Wayve's release for London says rides on UberX, Uber Electric or Uber Comfort come at no extra cost, also with a licensed driver on board.

Nashville has the one driverless example. There, Lyft says Standard, Priority Pickup, Wait & Save and Extra Comfort requests can be matched with a Waymo at no additional cost. The app decides who gets the robotaxi, so you can't always choose one.