Waymo Is Now Permitted to Operate at the Airports in San Francisco and San Jose.

One of the crown jewels for any robot taxi is permission to drive to an airport. There are usually strict regulations governing whether and how taxis, transport service providers, or robot taxis are allowed to drive to and serve airports. At the same time, airports are among the most lucrative places to pick up passengers.

After Waymo had already been allowed to operate at Phoenix Airport for years, news broke a few weeks ago that San Jose Mineta International Airport had also become accessible to Waymo. And now San Francisco International Airport is following suit, as reported by the San Francisco Chronicle. First, there will be a test phase, and the pick-up and drop-off points will not be located at the terminals themselves for the time being, but at the Kiss & Fly zone at the rental car center, from where a tram will then take passengers to the terminals.

The previous restrictions applied because San Francisco International Airport is not a public but a private property but belongs to the city of San Francisco. The city was somewhat displeased with the tests and commercial trips by robot taxi companies in its own urban area because the city itself has no control over the companies. Test and taxi licenses are issued by two California authorities, the Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the Public Utility Commission (PUC). City officials have repeatedly tried to gain a say in the matter and have used the airport license as leverage.

That seems to have been resolved for now, and testing can begin. Here are more details from the city of San Francisco.

This article was also published in German.