Here’s one demographic that does not loathe the robot cars driving around San Francisco, as blind people have rave reviews for Waymo’s dedicated features to accommodate people with visual impairments.We initially had some skepticism when we saw a headline in today’s Chronicle reading, “Why some Bay Area blind people say Waymos are changing their lives.” After all, Waymo has been running paid, sponsored content articles in publications across SF trying to sell some PR-dream version of events that Waymo is just trying to be some magnanimous godsend to seniors and disabled people. This despite web traffic data indicating that Waymo’s largest user age demographic is 25-34 years old (34% of users), while seniors only constitute less than 6% of users. And the Waymo user base likely skews toward tech industry employees, because Waymo rides are substantially more expensive than Uber and Lyft rides.But the Chronicle spoke to three blind Waymo users, who all said they were enamored with Waymo as compared to other rideshare competitors. One big reason for this is that a blind app users can make the car honk its horn or play a little tune over the car’s exterior speakers, very helpful for the individual to locate the car and get in. Uber and Lyft, for their part, often leave visually impaired riders stranded because the driver doesn’t help the person find the car, and will often cancel fares once they see a guide dog with the passenger.“I call it ‘my ride, my car,’” 83-year-old blind SF resident Jerry Kuns told the Chronicle, describing his Waymo rides. “I don’t have to interact with anybody, it’s gonna take me basically where I want to go, when I want to go there, and it’s all about my choice and I’m not dependent on your eyes to see what’s around me.”To their credit, Waymo had the wisdom to work with the National Federation of the Blind to develop features and adaptations specifically designed for visually impaired riders. These range from audio reminders that explain when the car is stopping at a spotlight or yielding to pedestrians, or detailed walking instructions to get to a destination after the car has dropped the rider off. And as a nice bonus, Waymo riders do get to pick their own music to play on the radio from within the app.But the allowance for guide dogs is very significant to those who are legally blind. “I’ll get denial after denial, five or six times,” blind woman Sharon Giovinazzo said of  Uber and Lyft, in her conversation with the Chronicle. “They say, ‘We don’t want a dog in our car.’”We should note that Waymo does not go dog-wild for letting any manner of dog into their cars. Waymo’s dog policies only allow certified service animals, and not just any old dog that someone claims is their “emotional support animal.” But still, Waymo is far more welcoming to guide dogs than Lyft or Uber.Per the Chronicle, Lyft and Uber both insist they are “piloting a feature” so those with guide dogs can disclose this within the app, and get a driver who is amenable to having a dog in the vehicle.But still, Uber and Lyft have both been around for more than 12 years now, and they’re just now getting around to this. Waymo had this incorporated into their service right upon launch, along with many other adaptive features based on proactively seeking advice from the National Federation of the Blind. And it’s pretty exceptional for a Big Tech company to go out of their way to accommodate a specific marginalized community, so the fondness for Waymo among the visually impaired community sure seems well-deserved.Related: Waymo Takes Another Step Toward Entering Airport Taxi Market [SFist]Image via Waymo