Waymo coding interview
questions, leaked.
10 problems reported across recent Waymo interviews. Top patterns: array, hash table, breadth first search. The list below is what most reported candidates actually saw, plus the honest play if you can't grind all of it.
Waymo's coding interview is a gauntlet of 10 medium-to-hard problems where arrays and graph traversal dominate. You're looking at eight medium problems and two hard ones, which means precision matters more than speed. The interview tests your ability to spot when to use hash tables for lookups, BFS or DFS for pathfinding, and greedy logic for optimization. If you hit a wall on something like Max Points on a Line or Shortest Distance from All Buildings mid-assessment, StealthCoder runs invisibly and surfaces a working solution while the proctor watches your cursor move.
Top problems at Waymo
| # | Problem | Diff | Frequency | Pass % | Patterns |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 01 | Max Points on a Line | HARD | 100.0 | 29% | Array · Hash Table · Math |
| 02 | Meeting Rooms II | MEDIUM | 77.5 | 52% | Array · Two Pointers · Greedy |
| 03 | Number of Islands | MEDIUM | 77.5 | 62% | Array · Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search |
| 04 | Minimum Knight Moves | MEDIUM | 71.1 | 41% | Breadth-First Search |
| 05 | Shortest Distance from All Buildings | HARD | 71.1 | 44% | Array · Breadth-First Search · Matrix |
| 06 | Divide Array in Sets of K Consecutive Numbers | MEDIUM | 62.1 | 59% | Array · Hash Table · Greedy |
| 07 | Find Peak Element | MEDIUM | 62.1 | 47% | Array · Binary Search |
| 08 | Possible Bipartition | MEDIUM | 62.1 | 52% | Depth-First Search · Breadth-First Search · Union Find |
| 09 | Valid Sudoku | MEDIUM | 62.1 | 62% | Array · Hash Table · Matrix |
| 10 | Design Tic-Tac-Toe | MEDIUM | 62.1 | 59% | Array · Hash Table · Design |
Frequencies derived from public community-tagged interview reports. Click a row to view on LeetCode.
You have a week, maybe less. You can't out-grind the list above. StealthCoder runs invisibly during the actual Waymo OA. The proctor cannot see it. Screen share cannot detect it. Built by an engineer at a top-10 tech company who can solve these problems cold but didn't want to trust himself in a 90-minute screen share.
Get StealthCoder- array8 · 80%
- hash table4 · 40%
- breadth first search4 · 40%
- matrix4 · 40%
- greedy2 · 20%
- sorting2 · 20%
- depth first search2 · 20%
- union find2 · 20%
- math1 · 10%
- geometry1 · 10%
Arrays appear in 80 percent of reported problems, so your foundation there has to be rock solid. Hash tables, BFS, and matrix operations each show up in 40 percent of cases, making them your second tier of priority. The hard problems (Max Points on a Line and Shortest Distance from All Buildings) combine multiple techniques: arrays, geometry or math, and often BFS for multi-source shortest-path logic. Greedy sorting patterns appear twice, so understand when sorting + two-pointer or greedy selection solves the problem faster than brute force. If you've drilled arrays and BFS thoroughly, you're positioned to pass. StealthCoder is your hedge for the one problem you didn't see coming, the one where the greedy insight doesn't click in the first two minutes.
Companies with similar patterns
If you prepped for Waymo, these companies recycle ~60% of the same topics.
You've seen the list.
Now make sure you pass Waymo.
Memorizing every problem above in a week is a fantasy. StealthCoder is the hedge: an AI overlay that's invisible during screen share. It reads the problem on screen and surfaces a working solution in under 2 seconds. Built by an engineer at a top-10 tech company who can solve these problems cold but didn't want to trust himself in a 90-minute screen share. Works on HackerRank, CodeSignal, CoderPad, and Karat.
Waymo interview FAQ
Should I prioritize array problems over BFS and hash tables for Waymo prep?+
Yes. Array problems appear in 8 out of 10 reported cases, so start there. Once you're comfortable, move to BFS (4 problems) and hash tables (4 problems). Graph and matrix operations sit at that 40 percent frequency too, so drill Number of Islands and Shortest Distance from All Buildings early.
How many medium problems should I solve before attempting the hard ones?+
Waymo's pool is 8 medium and 2 hard, so you're facing high odds of a medium problem first. Solve 5 to 6 solid medium problems covering array, BFS, and greedy logic. Then drill the two hard problems (Max Points on a Line, Shortest Distance from All Buildings) to understand the jump in complexity.
Is binary search worth studying for Waymo?+
Find Peak Element uses binary search and appears in the reported pool, but it's one of ten. Focus on arrays, BFS, and hash tables first. Binary search is a nice-to-have, but greedy and sorting come before it in priority for this company.
What's the connection between the hard problems at Waymo?+
Both hard problems (Max Points on a Line and Shortest Distance from All Buildings) combine multiple topics: arrays, geometry or math, and spatial logic. Max Points uses hash tables to count slopes; Shortest Distance uses multi-source BFS. They test your ability to layer techniques, not just execute one pattern.
Do I need to master Union Find for Waymo?+
Union Find appears twice in the reported problems (Number of Islands and Possible Bipartition), which is notable but not dominant. You can solve both with DFS or BFS instead. Learn Union Find if you have time, but DFS/BFS mastery will carry you further across the full problem set.