Waymo Teen is Coming 👦🧒

A screenshot of Waymo Teen surfaced this week in the app, but how does it stack up against Uber’s Teen product?

Tech sleuth Jane Wong recently shared a screenshot of Waymo’s new Teen accounts product. It looks like teens (ages 14-17) will soon be able to ride alone with the permission of their parent or legal guardians. Jane also nailed the Waymo scheduled rides leak which materialized into user testing 4 months later, so we can likely expect a similar timeline here.

The ‘Teen accounts’ leaked screenshot comes about 9 months after Waymo sent out a survey to users introducing the feature. Here’s what they highlighted about the potential program for customers:

• Waymo is always available. Whether it's a 6am swim practice, an after school dance class, or a Friday night football game, Waymo can take your teen, so you don't have to.

• No strangers. With Waymo, there's no one in the driver's seat, so your teen won't have to be alone in a car with someone they don't know.

• No distracted driving. Waymo handles the driving: going the speed limit, navigation, and following the rules of the road. The technology never gets tired or distracted, and has served over 50M trips to tens of thousands of happy riders.

Waymo also asked about a few other interesting ideas/features and a monthly subscription option:

• Ride + snack: Request that the Waymo vehicle show up with an after-school snack (Ordered through Uber Eats)

• Karaoke mode: sing along to favorite songs alone or with friends

• Waymo drop-off zones: branded, monitored, and convenient Waymo drop off zones for students at high schools

• Teen mode: aesthetic touches in the touchscreen or app that makes it feel like the ride was designed for teens

My Thoughts on This Product

It has been reported that parents in SF are already sending their kids off in a Waymo, even though it is against the company’s current terms of service (TOS), so it is no surprise that this product is coming to life. Obviously, the big value proposition here for parents is that they don’t have to worry about a human driver being alone with their child. But I also think the Waymo driver is a lot safer than your average Uber driver, so as a parent myself, this would make me feel more comfortable. Some parents also report that they like being able to track the ride’s progress but you can do that with Uber and Lyft, so I don’t think this is much of a differentiator.

I’m not sure a subscription makes a lot of sense for this product though. Typically, loyalty and subscription programs allow platforms to lock customers in for a month, a year, etc. And then the platform does not have to compete for that customer on a ride by ride basis. But in this instance, no other competitor can come close to offering the peace of mind and safety that Waymo can, so if anything, Waymo should be charging a premium for these rides. Or make them part of a larger family subscription program that locks in the adult’s rides too. That would really make me want/have to take a Waymo.

Some of the other ideas (like a snack for your kid) are cute but not practical. School pick-up/drop-offs are a notorious clusterf&$k but since riders will be ages 13-17, it should be no problem to drop off or pick up a couple blocks away to avoid any traffic.

What about Uber Teen?

Uber has been pushing their teen product hard over the past year because it has a lot of potential. Today’s teens aren’t driving themselves nearly as much as they used to, instead relying more on Uber and even other modes like e-bikes (as anyone in a beach community can attest to). I think teens could also represent a potential step function in growth for the company. Uber and its supporters have always touted the idea of replacing a customer’s car, but in reality, this only sort of works in dense cities with good public transportation (like NYC, SF, etc). And it’s an uphill battle since the average American household already owns nearly 2 vehicles.

So by starting young, Uber can ingrain their service in young customer’s minds and might be able to convince a large swath of urbanized Gen Alpha (2010-on) to not buy a car in the first place.

Here’s how Uber Teen currently works:

• Teens have the ability to order rides and meals anytime.

• Your teen will always be matched with highly rated and experienced drivers and couriers.

• When your teen requests a ride or places an order, you can follow along in the app with live trip and delivery tracking. You’ll also get real-time status updates. Additionally, teen trips are destination-locked, meaning drivers cannot change the destination of the trip—only your teen can.

Personally, I would let one of my sons ride alone with Uber Teen, but if I had a teenage daughter, absolutely not (the demographics of most drivers are older and male). It’s also not clear what a ‘highly rated and experienced’ driver is (their omission of clear cut-offs is worrying). But I’m guessing it’s not a driver with a 4.99 star rating and 20,000 trips under their belt. The average driver has a rating of 4.8, so if 4.8 is a high rating, that means that over 50% of drivers would be eligible for Teen rides.

Just for comparison, Hop Skip Drive, a company that specializes in rides for kids (but has pivoted to serving more B2B school routes over the past couple years), requires their drivers to have 5 years caregiving experience, undergo a fingerprint based background check, and do an in person interview. And these items are all in addition to all the normal requirements that Uber puts their drivers through.

Knowing all this, I’m surprised Uber launched this product in the first place since the potential safety issues are glaring. As of now, you can’t even request an Uber Teen ride in California due to a recent California Public Utilities Commission (CPUC) ruling that requires ridehailing and taxi companies to fingerprint their drivers (Uber chose not to comply and suspend their Teen program).

Waymo Teen’s Market Opportunity

Based on my experience, I’d guess that around 5-10% of Uber rides today are for minors (even though it’s technically against the TOS in many instances), so similar in nature to the ‘airport ride’ category. But like airport rides, I think customers might pay a premium and Waymo also has the chance to lock in the rest of their family with a subscription, and build a relationship with a young customer for life. I think it’s a real possibility that folks in Gen Alpha may never have to drive a car.

And although I harp on the challenges Waymo faces with a fixed fleet size, this is one of the benefits since their hard (vehicle) and soft (Waymo Driver) products are so consistent. You get the same ride each time with no driver and a vehicle with a camera/audio inside (I’m sure Waymo will allow parents to do a live check-in/chat in the future). Uber won’t ever be able to offer that with its human driver product.

Obviously, Waymo and Uber are working together in new markets so the competition angle may be moot for now, but if Waymo does want to take a crack at it alone, this would be one area where it will be difficult for Uber to compete.

Readers, what do you think about Waymo Teen? Would you pay more, the same or less for a ride for your teen? And how do you feel about Uber Teen - would you put your kid in an Uber now that you know how the product works?

-Harry