{"id":613038,"date":"2026-02-24T15:24:18","date_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:24:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/613038\/"},"modified":"2026-02-24T15:24:18","modified_gmt":"2026-02-24T15:24:18","slug":"waymos-driverless-cars-begin-limited-service-in-san-antonio-for-invited-riders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/613038\/","title":{"rendered":"Waymo\u2019s driverless cars begin limited service in San Antonio for invited riders"},"content":{"rendered":"

SAN ANTONIO<\/strong> \u2013 If you have spotted cars without drivers cruising around San Antonio, you\u2019re not imagining things. <\/p>\n

Fully autonomous Waymo vehicles officially began operating in the city on Tuesday for a limited group of riders. <\/p>\n

KSAT\u2019s GMSA anchor RJ Marquez and photojournalist Adam Barraza were among the first riders to test out the new service, which is rolling through downtown and several popular destinations across the city.<\/p>\n

The vehicles, branded with Waymo\u2019s logo and topped with a spinning dome, rely on an array of sensors and advanced computing to navigate city streets without a human driver. <\/p>\n

\u201cWhat that spinning dome actually is, is the lidar, or the laser-based sensing system that really gets a full 360-degree view,\u201d said Chris Bonelli, product communications manager for Waymo. \u201cThe computer allows for all that data input to be turned into driving directions.\u201d <\/p>\n

Riders use the Waymo app to hail a car. When it arrives, they can unlock the doors themselves from the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe door handles extend so that only you can access the vehicle, and not just some stranger,\u201d Bonelli said.<\/p>\n

Inside, there\u2019s no driver behind the wheel \u2014 something first-time riders immediately notice. Instead, riders can customize their experience through the app.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can have preset in the app the temperature,\u201d Bonelli said, adding that passengers can also preset things like the front-right passenger seat position. \u201cWe have two integrations currently for audio,\u201d he said, allowing riders to control what they listen to during the trip.<\/p>\n

Our KSAT crew rode in a Waymo from San Antonio City Hall to the Alamo, a route that included construction zones, pedestrians and large vehicles. He asked how the car gathers and uses information to move with traffic and react to changes on the road.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first steps when we go to launch in a city is to create a very high-definition, 3D map,\u201d Bonelli said. \u201cIs it a turn-only lane? Is it a more complex intersection? Speed changes as well, but certainly, you know, always designed to follow the speed limit.\u201d<\/p>\n

Inside the vehicle, riders can see a live 3D representation of what the car \u201csees,\u201d Bonelli said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat we show is basically a 3D representation of what the vehicle sees that includes pedestrians, that includes stop signs, brake lights,\u201d he said. \u201cIt can hear a siren. So even if the vehicle is not visible, if a fire truck is coming from an adjacent street, it\u2019ll hear that siren, it\u2019ll pull over.\u201d<\/p>\n

For now, the Waymo vehicles in San Antonio will not travel on highways or interstates. They will operate on surface streets but cover a sizable area of the city.<\/p>\n

In San Antonio, Waymo will serve riders across more than 60 square miles, including areas from North Star Mall down to the fairgrounds, the Frost Bank Center, downtown, the River Walk, the Alamo and the convention center. <\/p>\n

Waymo initial coverage area in San Antonio as of Feb. 27, 2026. (Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.)<\/p>\n

The launch in San Antonio is part of a broader expansion. Waymo is welcoming its first public riders into its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in four new cities: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. <\/p>\n

It is the first time the company has opened to the public in multiple cities simultaneously, bringing its total commercial metro areas to 10 and deepening its footprint in Texas and Florida. <\/p>\n

Select riders from the tens of thousands of people in those cities who have downloaded the Waymo app will receive invitations to take their first local rides starting today. New riders will be added on a rolling basis.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 by KSAT – All rights reserved.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"SAN ANTONIO \u2013 If you have spotted cars without drivers cruising around San Antonio, you\u2019re not imagining things.…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":613039,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5133],"tags":[5229,7236,7202,7203,358,314,522,3187,67,586,132,5230,68,2969,17228],"class_list":{"0":"post-613038","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-san-antonio","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-downtown","10":"tag-san-antonio","11":"tag-sanantonio","12":"tag-texas","13":"tag-traffic","14":"tag-transportation","15":"tag-tx","16":"tag-united-states","17":"tag-united-states-of-america","18":"tag-unitedstates","19":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","20":"tag-us","21":"tag-usa","22":"tag-waymo"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/116126303562763527","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613038","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=613038"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/613038\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/613039"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=613038"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=613038"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=613038"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}