NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — Teenagers have a new way to get around town.
The driverless rideshare app Waymo is debuting its latest feature — rides for teens with parental permission.
Nashville is the second city to test it out.
With a parent's consent, young riders ages 13 to 17 can now catch a driverless ride. The app is offering safety measures like shareable trips, so that parents can see their teen's location the whole time. The idea is to provide parents with options and kids with more independence.
"We have basketball games, you have track practices, you have home...so there's so many various things they have to be at," laughed a mother of three teenagers, Domonique Townsend.
She has questions about Waymo's ability to get around Nashville traffic and construction and the teen account's safety features.
"Can you talk to your children while they're sitting in the car and they're riding to the location they need to go to? So, so many questions on that, but safety first is what I will look into," she said.
Other parents said it would help them juggle everything on their plate.
"Oh yeah, it would definitely help me as a parent," said Jaime O'Bryan, a mother of a 16-year-old. "Because we live in Bellevue and she goes to school here, so it's a long way."
Much of the conversation boiled down to whether it's safer to allow your teen to ride in a car with a stranger or no driver at all.
"I've seen numerous things of like, Waymos getting in accidents, hurting people, not doing the proper things they're supposed to do," said Jaime's 16-year-old Katie Abbott, although she was also excited to try the new account.
"For me, technology doesn't provide judgment that a human could give. So having someone in a car...I'm more comfortable with because that person can have judgment," added Townsend.
Even so, with teens and all the places they want to go, she is open to learning more.
"With three teenagers and this account being eligible for those three, I might consider it," Townsend concluded.
Parents have to add teens to Waymo within the app in order for them to be able to order a car.
Right now, teen accounts are only available in Phoenix and Nashville.
Do you have more information about this story? You can email me at nikki.hauser@newschannel5.com.
