Waymo 'want ads' go viral as riders leave notes seeking love, new hires

A viral trend has gone viral online of passengers in Waymo’s self-driving cars leaving handwritten notes inside the vehicles to advertise job openings and seek romantic relationships.

On a recent trip to San Francisco, Influur CEO Alessandra Angelini and the company’s head of marketing, Jennifer Lo Chan, placed a handwritten message in a Waymo car’s center console. The note read, “Looking to hire senior software engineers to work on AI/music project,” and included the company’s website and Angelini’s email address.

Later that day, another Waymo rider spotted the note, took a photo, and shared it on X, where it quickly went viral. According to a report by the Washington Post, Angelini received around 60 resumes as a result.

“This was an old-school type of ad that worked pretty good,” Angelini said.

In another viral instance, a 26-year-old man left a handwritten personal ad in a Waymo car, describing himself as someone who works in tech but “doesn’t make it my whole personality.” He included a phone number in hopes of getting a date.

Waymo’s autonomous vehicles are commonly used in tech-heavy cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, and are becoming a regular alternative to traditional rideshare services such as Uber and Lyft. But the rise of these personal notes points to a deeper shift, especially among younger generations struggling to make real-world connections in both work and dating.

“Young daters are trying to roll back the clock in dating to a simpler time,” said dating coach Damona Hoffman, per the Washington Post. Hoffman said that while the Waymo personal ad is “clever,” it may not be effective.

“You simply cannot reach critical mass this way, and there are unlikely to be enough people who get into the car who fit the criteria and are open to take a chance texting a stranger,” said Hoffman. “Dating culture today is much more visual than it was when personal ads were an effective method of meeting.”

Still, not everyone is skeptical. The handwritten job ad posted by Angelini was shared on X by user Christina Zerka, who said she thought her followers would enjoy the creativity. The post drew numerous comments, with many people saying they “respect the hustle” behind the traditional approach.