Overview:
Waymo driverless cars will hit Denver streets by 2026, sparking excitement and concerns over safety and snow.
It’s 2 a.m. in San Francisco, and Tess Olmstead needs a ride, but being a lone female in an Uber can feel a bit unsettling. Just down the street, she spots the white electric vehicles, which she hasn’t stopped seeing since she moved back from Denver. They’ve been up and running in California for a while, so Olmstead downloads the Waymo app and experiences a driverless car for the first time.
“Getting into a car with no driver is a very odd experience,” Olmstead said. “But it somehow felt like I had done it plenty of times, just because I am always seeing them.”
Her friends and family are frequent users in the city, utilizing the service more often than any other rideshare apps. Waymo’s easy accessibility and impressive safety record have made it quite successful in major cities such as L.A., Austin, Atlanta, Phoenix and San Francisco.
Olmstead noted that the more she uses them, the more she watches them improve. “They learn roads well and get out of the way of other cars if need be,” Olmstead said. “Just like a driver would in tight intersections or traffic.”
What will this look like in Denver?
Waymo is an autonomous driving technology company that began testing its vehicles with human drivers in Denver in September 2025. As the first Waymo vehicles appear on the streets, residents are excited about the new possibilities but concerned about their operation in new weather conditions.
“Honestly, if they can make it through L.A. traffic, they’ll be just fine here,” said Rose Carmack, a Denver resident.
Dominick Moreno, Deputy Chief of Staff to Mayor Mike Johnston, noted that conversations between Waymo and the city’s Department of Transportation and Infrastructure (DOTI) have been taking place to coordinate a successful integration. These conversations included discussing the city’s specific bike paths and pedestrian safety issues.
“The city doesn’t actually have any regulatory responsibility for Waymo coming in,” Moreno said. “State legislation was passed a few years back that allows for the operation of autonomous vehicles on Colorado’s roads and streets statewide.”
Although Waymo couldn’t be reached for comment, there is still plenty that we already know. Currently in a testing phase with manual pilots, Denver’s Waymo vehicles are scouting the city, marking bike infrastructure and getting used to the RTD rail. In addition to the heavy car and foot traffic, Denver has a unique challenge: the snow.
Colorado has some of the most unpredictable weather conditions that even vehicles with competent drivers behind the wheel can’t entirely avoid. Accidents happen, whether a driver isn’t paying attention or their tires don’t grip. How are unmanned vehicles supposed to respond?
Waymo plans to keep pilots in the seats of their vehicles throughout the snow season while the cars learn and adjust. They are hoping to start offering rides in mid-2026 and come up with the best possible methods to handle next winter.
“We’ll be the first city that has weather elements like snow to contend with,” Moreno said. “I think they’re being very thoughtful and cautious to make sure that their vehicles do well in those climates in order to be successful here.”
“There are so many cities that don’t have this kind of weather, though,” Carmack pushed back. “I’m not super sure how comfortable I feel being the practice city?”
Olmstead expresses her support, saying that Waymos have been really beneficial to her city, and as someone familiar with Denver, she believes they will be just as accepted here.
“Drivers can change how they operate vehicles based on mood, sleep, any impairments or slow motor skills,” Olmstead said. “I think it’s pretty cool that these Waymo sensors cancel human errors like that out.”
Waymo navigates driving scenarios using RADAR, LIDAR, 360-degree cameras and 3D maps, as well as simulations and real-world experiences. They have been shown to improve safety performance, are expected to generate economic benefits and emit zero tailpipe emissions.
“From the media accounts that I’ve seen, people are generally pretty excited that this technology will soon be offered in Denver and for a new means of travel,” Moreno said. “They seem perfectly safe, and I expect no difference here.”
Citizens’ concerns
Still, some citizens question the safety of Waymo. “I’ve heard that they’re honestly too cautious sometimes,” Carmack said. “When they sense something getting too close to them, they stop and back up three feet, which I guess made a huge mess in another city.”
She is referring to the San Francisco incident in which Waymo cars malfunctioned, honking and backing up in a seemingly never-ending cycle. They also racked up nearly 590 parking tickets in the city, which the company has since stated that they are working to resolve.
“From my experiences, Waymos tend to stall or get themselves stuck in places like a drive-through while trying to turn around,” Olmstead said. “It’s also kinda common for manual intervention to help Waymos from getting stuck in one way.”
There are also concerns regarding privacy and job security. Waymo’s privacy policy allows it to track trip routes, locations and in-vehicle interactions, which can be shared with partners and advertisers. Users are allowed to opt out of certain data collection methods, but some question why they need that personal information.
When asked about how Waymo’s coming to Denver would affect human rideshare drivers’ job security, Moreno said: “There will always be folks who feel more comfortable with a human driver behind the wheel, and so we are not anticipating a huge impact for the drivers who provide services with Lyft and Uber.”
One local Uber driver mentioned that he didn’t know what company the vehicle belonged to and made a sour face before shaking his head ‘no’ in response to whether he thought the program was cool for the city.
“I think that the idea can be scary, but with how automated everything already is, I guarantee that they will become a common thing,” Carmack said. “I’ve already heard a lot of excitement about the cars, and I think that I’ll definitely be getting in one when the time comes.”
As Waymo continues to map its way through Denver, residents are both excited and skeptical about how the vehicles will be integrated into the city. Some view it as a cause for concern, while others see it as a promising innovation. In any case, Denver’s streets are about to change when driverless cars become widely available in 2026, and residents are along for the driverless ride.
“You know, technology … We’ll have to see how it goes,” said a man on the street when asked about Waymo coming to Denver. As for whether or not he’d ride in one, the jury is still out: “Potentially, I don’t know if I trust them quite yet.”
