Although a ride in a Waymo robotaxi still costs more, on average, than a comparable trip with Uber (UBER) or Lyft (LYFT), that price gap is starting to shrink. New data from Obi, which tracks real-time ride prices and wait times, shows that Waymo has lowered its prices in the San Francisco Bay Area while Uber and Lyft fares have moved higher. Based on nearly 94,000 simulated ride requests collected between late November and early January, Waymo rides averaged $19.69, compared with $17.47 for Uber and $15.47 for Lyft. That’s a big change from April 2025, when Waymo rides were meaningfully more expensive.
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According to Obi, the reason for this change is simple: the “novelty premium” for riding in a robotaxi is fading. Indeed, Obi CEO Ashwini Anburajan told TechCrunch that earlier data suggested that riders were willing to pay extra just to try Waymo, but that effect is wearing off in the Bay Area. As a result, Waymo may need to keep pricing more aggressively to stay competitive. Still, wait times remain an important difference. Waymo’s average wait was about 5.7 minutes, compared with three and five minutes for Uber and Lyft, respectively.
The biggest wildcard in the data, however, is Tesla (TSLA). Obi found Tesla’s ride-hailing prices appeared far lower than the others. However, Tesla is not operating a fully driverless robotaxi service in California and instead relies on employee drivers using Full Self-Driving software. Its Bay Area fleet is also small, with roughly 150 active vehicles, resulting in average wait times of over 15 minutes. Even so, consumer interest is strong. In a survey of 2,000 people, Tesla was the preferred autonomous brand for 31% of respondents, trailing Waymo’s 39.8%, with men showing a particularly strong preference for Tesla.
Which Robotaxi Stock Is the Better Buy?
Turning to Wall Street, out of the robotaxi stocks mentioned above, analysts think that UBER stock has the most room to run. In fact, UBER’s average price target of $113.76 per share implies more than 39.8% upside potential.
