A trip on a Waymo robotaxi is still more expensive, on average, than an equivalent trip on a human-driven Uber or Lyft. But that gap is narrowing, according to new data released Tuesday by Obi, a company that aggregates real-time fares and ride times for multiple ride-hailing services.
Two factors are working together behind this change. Obi said Waymo has lowered prices, at least in the San Francisco Bay Area, where the data was extracted, while traditional ride-hailing services from Uber and Lyft Network have increased prices.
The new data was collected from Nov. 27 to Jan. 1, and Obi simulated more than 94,000 ride requests in the Bay Area. The company found that Waymo rides cost an average of $19.69, while Uber rides were slightly cheaper at $17.47. During the same period, Lyft rides averaged $15.47.
In June, Obi published its first report analyzing data from robotaxis and ride-hailing services. Data from April 2025 rides shows Waymo rides averaged $20.43, Uber $15.58, and Lyft rides averaged $14.44. Comparing these numbers, Waymo’s average cost fell 3.62%, while Uber’s cost rose 12% and Lyft’s cost rose 7%.
Obi CEO Ashwini Anburajan told TechCrunch that while data from last April suggests customers were willing to pay more to ride Waymo, he believes this is a noteworthy trend because “the novelty is wearing off for people in the Bay Area.” That means Waymo will likely have to price more competitively going forward, she says.
Wildcard: Tesla
The wildcard in Obi’s new report is that it collected data on Tesla’s fast-growing robotaxi service, which appears to be much cheaper than the other three services. However, there are some important caveats.
First, Tesla technically doesn’t operate a robotaxi service in the San Francisco area where the data was sampled. Tesla does not have the necessary permits to operate an unmanned commercial robotaxi service in the state. Nor has it been approved by transportation network companies like Uber and Lyft. Instead, Tesla has received a transportation charter permit from the California Public Utilities Commission, which means the company will use its employees to drive its vehicles equipped with fully self-driving software.
tech crunch event
san francisco
|
October 13-15, 2026
Tesla’s Bay Area fleet is also modest. Crowdsourced data from the website Robotaxi Tracker helps track about 168 vehicles in Tesla’s ride-hailing fleet, but not all of those vehicles are active at all times. (Obi notes in its report that at the time it conducted its data sampling, only 156 cases were found on the crowdsourcing website.)
Its small fleet has been driven by wait times. Of the four services studied, Tesla had the longest wait time, with an average ETA of 15.32 minutes. Waymo’s average wait time was 5.74 minutes (up from 4.28 minutes last April), while Lyft and Uber’s wait time was 5.14 minutes and 3.15 minutes, respectively.
All of these factors (vehicle size, driver chauffeur, wait time) can influence how Tesla’s price increases in real terms, and it’s hard to say how and when that will happen. Tesla just recently removed safety monitors from some cars in Austin, Texas.
If Tesla can scale up its robotaxis, which rely solely on camera input, it could theoretically make rides cheaper than competitors like Waymo, which integrates self-driving software into modified vehicles equipped with several types of sensors.
popularity contest
Anbrajan sees value in Tesla operating a ride-hailing service before attempting to operate true robotaxis.
“Right now, it’s not an actual self-driving car. It has a safety driver on board. We’re building brand awareness. We’re building brand preference for people who already like Tesla or are about to like Tesla,” she said.
There is some evidence of this in the report released by Obi on Tuesday.
In addition to sampled ride requests in the Bay Area, Obi surveyed 2,000 people in California, Nevada, Arizona, and Texas on a variety of issues related to robotaxis and ride-hailing. More than half of respondents who have ridden in a self-driving car said they had ridden in a Tesla robotaxi. And when asked which self-driving brand they liked best, respondents chose Tesla 31% of the time.
Waymo remains the most preferred, with 39.8% of respondents choosing the Alphabet-owned brand. But this strong preference for Tesla signals future demand, even though the company has yet to operate a full-fledged robotaxi service at any scale.
That strong preference for Tesla is also primarily driven by a specific group: men. Women surveyed by Obi were almost evenly split between choosing Waymo or Tesla, with a large third favoring Zoox at 8%. However, 56% of men surveyed preferred Tesla over Waymo (25%) and Zoox (7%).
What’s next?
Obi’s report provides a good baseline ahead of a year that will see many developments in the world of self-driving cars. Waymo is rapidly expanding into new cities, partnering with Uber and Lyft in some cities. These ride-hailing companies have also brought many other self-driving vehicle partners onto their platforms. And Tesla will likely try to prove its robotaxi approach works to expand its initial service.
Waymo is also looking to start offering rides in a new van-like vehicle it is developing with Chinese company Zeekr. The vehicle, known as Ojai, is expected to have a lower initial cost for Waymo, potentially allowing the company to be more aggressive with its pricing.
But one thing is clear to Ambrajan. That means the real competition is coming. Other companies are also preparing to launch their own robotaxi services. Nuro provides self-driving systems for its modified Lucid Gravity vehicles as part of the premium robotaxi network operated by Uber. Hyundai-backed Motional has restarted its efforts and plans to launch a commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas by the end of the year. Companies like Avride are also partnering with Uber to bring robotaxis to other U.S. cities.
“It’s still early days, so there are no latecomers, right?” she said. “We are in this new era. So who will move quickly to gain market share and attract consumers?”
