Autonomous cars are rolling through Atlanta, but are they ready for our streets?

When I heard Waymo’s autonomous vehicles were operating in Atlanta, I was intrigued. The idea of a car navigating Atlanta’s chaotic streets without a human felt like science fiction. I wanted to see how they worked and how they might affect Atlanta’s transportation landscape.

Waymo launched in Atlanta on June 24, 2025, partnering with Uber to offer rides in fully autonomous electric Jaguar SUVs. Atlanta riders can book a Waymo through the Uber app. Early data show fewer crashes with Waymo compared to traditional vehicles, but it’s too soon to say if that’s true in Atlanta, where traffic and infrastructure are unpredictable.

To learn more about how autonomous vehicles could impact our city, I spoke with several Atlantans to get a better understanding of the launch of Waymo in Atlanta.  

I took a ride myself. It was smooth and quiet, with easy controls and clear instructions. But around 1 a.m., the car abruptly stopped for five minutes with no explanation, which was unsettling alone at night. I’d ride again, just not at night.

The car followed traffic laws perfectly. It picked me up and dropped me off, but not exactly where the app said it would. For me, that was a minor inconvenience. For some people with disabilities, it could pose a serious barrier to safety and accessibility.

“My first thought [upon hearing of Waymo’s launch] was, I bet they’re not wheelchair accessible,” Maria Sotnikova (AICP) said. 

As a power wheelchair user, she immediately noticed what the vehicles were missing. 

“They don’t consult people like me until after they’ve already designed the thing,” she said.” And then it’s always ‘we’re working on it.”

She emphasized that accessibility shouldn’t be treated as an afterthought. “If it drops you off somewhere unfamiliar or doesn’t stop close to the curb, that’s not a small thing,” she said. “For some people, that could be a deal breaker.”

Councilmember Byron Amos (District 3), chair of the transportation committee, said he was intrigued from the beginning. “Very interested,” he said. “Understanding they’re autonomous, that a driver would not be in it, wanting to understand all of the technology that goes into that, what it would look like… just the general questions. But I was very interested.”

Amos has yet to ride in one, though the city has kept in close contact with Waymo. As chair of the Council’s Transportation Committee, he said the city has received a wide range of feedback.

“Some people just want to ride in one just to see what it’s like,” he said. “Others email me every other day with articles about autonomous vehicles — and they are very passionate about not having them in the city.”

Regulating autonomous vehicles presents a challenge. Much of that authority rests at the state level, and Atlanta has limited power to intervene directly. Amos said the city is currently working on a comprehensive transportation plan to address mobility at every level, from walking to autonomous cars.

Still, he raised questions about how well the vehicles will handle Atlanta-specific chaos.

“What happens after a Falcons game? Or Beyoncé concert?” he said. “When you don’t only have foot traffic, but you have car traffic and scooter traffic, and you’re at the corner of Ivan Allen and Marietta, and the police have got one side of the street blocked off… at that instance, what happens to that computer in that autonomous car?”

Equity is another issue. Right now, Waymo charges the same fare as a regular Uber ride. Amos said that’s fine for now, but that could change.

“There should be the ability for everyone, economically, to be able to use that service,” he said. “And only time will tell on that.”

Kady DeWees, an Atlanta resident, told me she saw a Waymo vehicle attempt to drive through the Peachtree Road Farmers Market, which was set up in a church parking lot. The car seemed confused, recognizing the parking lot, but not understanding that it shouldn’t drive through. The Waymo was surrounded by food stands and people. Many marketgoers reportedly gathered around the car to stop it from continuing through the crowd.

Britton Edwards, COO of Atlanta Way 2.0, recalled seeing someone struggle to access their ride. “[I was] at the Kroger, and someone was waiting for their Waymo to pick them up and could not figure out how to get into the car,” she said.

While these moments might seem small, they reveal the technology’s limits in navigating human unpredictability, something my uncle Maxime Giordani, an driver for Uber, said a computer can’t replicate

“[I’ve had] some of the most amazing conversations I’ve had in my life [with clients],” Giordani said, “I’ve taken people for long rides, for like an hour, rides in traffic to the airport, to South Carolina, to the Tennessee border… you build relationships with these.”

Giordani described how he’s had people open up emotionally in his car, sharing struggles and personal stories they might not share otherwise.

He worries about the limitations of autonomous vehicles in replicating this experience, especially in a city like Atlanta, where navigating the traffic and human nature, requires more than just technology. “I’ve been asking people [riders] and not one of them said they would feel comfortable taking a Waymo,” said Giordani. 

Are they safer? Possibly. Accessible? Not yet. Ready for prime time? The jury’s still out.

But one thing is clear: While the technology may be driving, Atlanta residents are still steering the conversation.

This summer, Atlanta Way 2.0 and SaportaReport are partnering on an initiative to strengthen the civic fabric of greater Atlanta through journalism. We have two amazing PIN interns who will share their journey in our weekly column.