Waymo Rides Now Available to San Francisco Airport

Since September last year, Waymo has been conducting test runs to San Francisco Airport, but until now only with Waymo employees. As of today, however, it is also possible for the public to be dropped off and picked up at the airport by a robot taxi.

Until recently, this was not possible because San Francisco Airport is private property owned by the City of San Francisco, which has the authority to determine who is allowed to drive there. Due to certain disagreements between Waymo and the city, which had no say in the approval of robot taxi operations by companies such as Waymo in California, as this was exclusively the responsibility of the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV) and the California Public Utility Commission, the city restricted Waymo’s access.

Even now, however, Waymos are not allowed to drive directly to the three local and one international terminals, but are currently only allowed to drive to the rental car center, from where passengers can then take the free Airtrain to the terminals. The situation is different at the (smaller) San Jose Airport, where Waymos have been allowed to drive to the terminals since September.

This article was also published in German.