Waymo

Waymo is one of the few subjects ToTheMoon discusses as passengers rather than analysts: one of the hosts lives where Google's robotaxi runs on ordinary streets, and his household's experience — from overpaying for a ride to whether a teenager can legally summon one — feeds straight into the episodes. Waymo serves the channel as the reference point in the argument over what separates a product people already trust from an impressive demo, and it almost always appears paired with Tesla.

In 2024, episode 028 focused on price: in San Francisco Waymo cost more than Uber, one host admitted he always overpaid for that taxi, and the hosts noted that Waymo already drives but expands carefully while Tesla promises a far broader leap. By episode 065 in 2025 the verdict had shifted to trust: "Waymo looks more reliable for now" — the company had spent years polishing a limited territory, while Tesla's Austin robotaxi launch came with videos of errors and questions from regulators.

From there Waymo became an everyday fact. Episode 075 concluded that the robotaxi had stopped being a presentation: a user judges an ordinary ride, and trust arrives only after thousands of boring trips; the same episode recalled that Waymo, too, began with operators in the car. Episode 082 noted that the service now reached Los Altos but could not legally be called for a minor. In 2026 the company shows up as capital: episode 105 counts it among the four companies that took most of the investment, and episode 148 names its one weak spot — expensive lidar.