Driven by Love: Couple Goes on a Romantic Night Out With the Waymo Driver

Max and Lilian are a modern, millennial Phoenix couple. They met as they were both finishing college, dated for a few years, got married, adopted a dog and recently bought a home. 

For years, Lilian was the one who drove and picked Max up when he needed a ride. That’s because Max is a person who is blind, and Lilian is a person with vision. 

But on one beautiful evening, Max was the one who provided a ride for Lilian. He bought her flowers and with the help of the Waymo Driver, picked Lilian up for a date night out. Max was diagnosed with blindness at three months old, and often uses Waymo One’s fully autonomous ride-hailing service to get from place to place across Metro Phoenix. 

Lilian holding onto Max's arm as he opens the door to a Waymo One autonomous vehicle

“Waymo is just an easy-to-use solution that all I have to do is pull out my phone and I can get wherever I want just with a couple taps,” Max shares. “It’s a huge game changer because I don't have to rely on anyone else.”

Lilian says Waymo’s technology is a support to their family, as it gives her peace of mind that Max can call a ride, even if she’s not available.

“We both have full-time jobs and a lot of responsibilities and I can't always drop whatever I'm doing to pick him up,” Lilian says. “Using Waymo is huge now for him. I will say I do a lot less picking up the phone call and dropping what I'm doing and going to get him.”

Lilian, who works in education administration, says she and Max recently bought a home, and they considered Waymo’s service area when making their decision. 

“We used to live directly on a light rail line and now we don't, so having access to Waymo to get us downtown or to get to the store or whatever is super helpful,” Lilian says. “Being able to live in Waymo’s service area was a really lucky added bonus to our house.”

Max works at the Foundation for Blind Children, a Phoenix nonprofit that provides resources and services for people of all ages with visual disabilities. Max says his use of autonomous driving technology – as well as all the adventures he’s undertaken in life – helps show others what is possible.

“All day, every day for work, I tell people about what I and what the other visually impaired people around me are doing on a daily basis,” Max explains. “Being able to be an example myself is a really important part of that.”

In his lifetime, Max has adopted many new technologies designed to assist people who are blind, but he says transportation has always presented challenges.

“I can do my job using a computer with talking software. I can get around using a white cane. I've found so many adaptations and different ways of doing things in my life to be able to live independently, but I still can't drive a car,” Max shares. 

Max says that transportation independence is about more than convenience: it’s about self-confidence.

“With Waymo, I don't have to rely on anyone else and I can do everything myself, and that is a huge deal for me because I can know with confidence that I'm going to be able to get where I need to go.”

Max and Lilian holding hands in the backseat of a Waymo One vehicle

Max says Waymo’s technology is game-changing for people with visual impairments and he enjoys introducing others to the technology.

“A lot of people with vision loss feel helpless,” Max shares. “When you can teach someone who's visually impaired that they can press these buttons on this app and an autonomous car shows up and takes you exactly where you need to go – that you don't need to rely on anyone else – that is empowerment.”