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by swyx·2mo ago·view on hn ↗
> Waymo Premier costs $29.99 per month and will be initially offered to select riders in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix.

> Waymo Premier is a new invite-only membership program built for those who rely on us most. For a monthly fee, members gain access to a suite of exclusive benefits designed to make their journey more seamless and rewarding:

Priority Pickups: Skip the line with prioritized matching

Ride Savings: Earn 10% Waymo Cash back on every trip, and even more during busy times.

Early Access: Be among the first to experience Waymo in new cities, as we expand.

Flexible Cancellations: Peace of mind with up to five free cancellations per month.

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ok so just amazon prime for waymo. its alright but i feel like they had the chance to go REALLY high end with like a $300/month plan that people will still pay for because supply is so limited. instead they went mass consumer with a name like "Premier". eh.

(sorry waymo person reading this i know what its like to name a thing and regret it)

2 comments
>Be among the first to experience Waymo in new cities, as we expand

How is this useful in any way? by definition it's a subscription for people already using the service in the (few) supported cities. If I use it in Denver, why would I care to have early access in Washington?

I imagine they'll try to get new users to sign up for a month of Premier to try Waymo early once it becomes available in their city. Basically juice a few thousand early adopters for 30 bucks each, which also lets them judge demand and gives them some extra revenue to build out their vehicle/parking network before the full launch.
Pay $30 to be a beta tester for self driving cars in a new city. I wouldn’t sign up for that.
Or it for frequent travellers - if they did smaller "beta" testing in a ton of new cities at once it could be great to suddenly have access to a semi exclusive fleet of Waymos
If you travel a lot for work and would prefer to use Waymo over Uber or renting.
It's a minor perk for sure. From their perspective, it probably costs essentially nothing, so why not.

But I can see it being useful if they're expanding to a nearby city. Waymo is in Los Angeles already and will expand into San Diego this year. If you live in LA, you might have friends, family, or business in San Diego and visit fairly often. Or maybe a group of people want to ride in one car for a weekend trip there but don't want to spend every moment together.

I assume it’s for business travelers.
A lot of people (myself included) would pay $30 to get Waymo a month earlier in their home city.
yeah, as with so many things, sounds like enterprise users are the target. and enterprise users travel to different cities all the time!
i assumed it's for influencers who want to make a video of the new city or something
Agreed! If you're a 20+ company in SF you're required to offer commuter benefits (up to $340 / month).

That's usually things like caltrain / muni. But I would definitely sponsor a $300/mo waymo subscription if it was like 20 rides a month.