Waymo on the highways has the potential to kill rush hour traffic jams.
Carpooling used to be a thing. Now not so much. Look around the next time you are stuck in traffic. You will see mostly one driver per car. Carpools are hard to arrange and people might get stuck at work during the day if they need to suddenly get home, or decide to stay late.
Waymo charges the same per ride for one person per car or four people per car. It's easy math. If two people are sharing a ride, the cost is cut in half. If four people are in the car, the cost is one fourth. There is a huge economic incentive to find a buddy.
Waymo has the chance to bring back carpooling, probably between people that live close to each other and work in the same office. Make multiple pickups in the morning and one drop-off and repeat the process after work. If someone misses a ride or is stuck at work, no big deal. They just take a solo Waymo for the extra ride and lose the cost savings for that day. Nobody has to sit next to a rando on the bus.
Assume 10,000 cars take 10,000 people to work each day down a road. If half of those cars have two people, that's now 7,500 cars taking the same number of people. An overnight 25% reduction in traffic. Every person that decides to share a ride and save money will take one car off the road.
The Waymos are going to be a lot better than humans at avoiding "traffic waves" by maintaining a constant speed, which will allow all of the traffic to go faster. Waymos are not going to crash which will make the drive even more predictable, save lives, reduce insurance cost and car repairs.
It's going to change the commute ... I'm not sure when but it's coming.