VIDEO: What does a driverless Waymo car ride look like?

AUSTIN (KXAN) — Beginning early next year, Austinites will be able to hail a driverless rideshare courtesy of a partnership between Uber and autonomous vehicle company Waymo — but some residents will get early access to the driverless technology this fall.

Chris Bonelli, Waymo's product communications manager, confirmed with KXAN Tuesday the company will begin onboarding a select number of Austin riders from Waymo's waitlist later this fall. Those selected will be able to test ride the technology for free before the more expansive rollout in 2025.

"We're going to give them an opportunity to experience the product, to take some rides for free, to really cross around 37 square miles of the city — really to experience the technology, really engage with it, understand it, share their learnings with those around them and really help to build some trust in the Waymo driver and its capability ahead of that exciting commercial launch with Uber early next year," he said.

Bonelli said Waymo has tested in more than 25 cities to experience operations in different environments and climates, but added Austin has been a key market expansion for the company due to its existing appetite for ride-hailing operations.

Right now, its ride-hailing services are fully built out in the Phoenix metro, the San Francisco Bay area and Los Angeles, with expansions next year into Atlanta as well as Austin.

KXAN had the opportunity to test ride in a fully autonomous Waymo vehicle Tuesday, riding alongside Bonelli on a trip through downtown Austin. Bonelli walked through some of the specialty features customers will have access to in the driverless rideshares, with touch screens confirming the rider's name and start of the trip, tweaks to music preferences and temperatures and the "double tug" on the vehicle's car handles to exit the vehicle after the trip is completed.

Alongside those amenities and features, touch screens in the vehicles also display an aerial GPS view of the vehicle traveling along its route, using data from all of the lidar, cameras and radar tracking the car's movements.

"Safety is our absolute primary goal. It is the North Star of what we do," Bonelli said, adding Waymo has tracked more than 22 million fully autonomous miles as part of company operations.

Alongside safety measures, he noted the company's work to build up accessibility for different subsectors of the disability community. That subject was a focal point of a South by Southwest Conference & Festivals panel earlier this year, featuring perspectives from people who are blind or have low vision, epilepsy and conditions like cerebral palsy.

"We want to make sure we're giving accessible transportation to all within the city limits we operate in," Bonelli said.

More details on Waymo's Austin operations, including opportunities to join the interest list, are available online.