{"id":202387,"date":"2025-09-05T13:19:43","date_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:19:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202387\/"},"modified":"2025-09-05T13:19:43","modified_gmt":"2025-09-05T13:19:43","slug":"phoenix-has-airport-robotaxis-and-theyre-coming-to-san-jose-san-francisco-still-waits","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/202387\/","title":{"rendered":"Phoenix has airport robotaxis, and they\u2019re coming to San Jos\u00e9. San Francisco still waits"},"content":{"rendered":"

There\u2019s only one airport in the U.S. where you can step off a plane and be whisked away by a robotaxi.<\/p>\n

In order to get there, I had to take an Uber to San Francisco International Airport, board a Southwest flight, and travel 650 miles into Arizona\u2019s oppressive summer heat. That\u2019s because, despite being the birthplace of self-driving technology, San Francisco doesn\u2019t have an airport robotaxi service. Phoenix does. And San Jos\u00e9 soon will.<\/p>\n

After three years of carrying passengers on the mean, hilly streets of San Francisco, the driverless taxi operator Waymo remains stuck in a years-long logjam with the city over access to the Bay Area\u2019s busiest airport. Communications between the two parties have included rejection notes, a harshly worded cease-and-desist letter, and contentious contract negotiations, public records show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

By contrast, Waymo has offered 24\/7 curbside pickups and drop-offs at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport for more than a year. Since it began offering rides at one of PHX\u2019s Sky Train stations in 2022, the Alphabet-owned company has completed more than 450,000 airport trips.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen you arrive at Phoenix Sky Harbor Airport, you can use the most advanced technology to get to your destination,\u201d said Mayor Kate Gallego, who takes Waymo for her own travel to and from the airport. \u201cIt\u2019s a point of pride that we were the first.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Phoenix has established itself as the country’s leading market for robotaxis. | Source: Daniel Slim\/Getty Images\"\"Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego uses Waymos to commute to the airport and when she’s going out to have a drink. | Source: AP Photo\/Matt York<\/p>\n

While Phoenix has established itself as \u201cAmerica\u2019s King of the Robotaxi<\/a>,\u201d San Franciscans are still anxiously waiting for Waymo to make inroads at SFO. In December alone, more than 13,000 people<\/a> searched for SFO on the Waymo app, and around 700 people installed the app while physically at the airport. A July 2024 survey by Waymo found that 89% of riders<\/a> in the Bay Area are interested in using the service to get to and from SFO.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Adding insult to injury, San Jos\u00e9 Mineta International Airport announced Thursday that Waymo has received a permit<\/a> to operate there, clinching the title of the first California airport to offer a commercial robotaxi service. Waymo is set to launch in San Jos\u00e9 by the end of the year, ahead of the Super Bowl and World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, discussions between Waymo and SFO have hit repeated speed bumps. Although the mapping process was completed this year, the two parties have yet to reach an agreement on permitting.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m surprised it\u2019s not already available, to be honest,\u201d said William Riggs, director of the Autonomous Vehicles and the City Initiative at the University of San Francisco. \u201cIt\u2019s about time that we start the experiment and see where it goes.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"A July 2024 survey found that 89% of Bay Area riders are interested in using Waymo to get to and from SFO.\u200b | Source: Photo by Justin Sullivan\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

A spokesperson for SFO, which is owned and operated by the city of San Francisco, said meetings are ongoing, but there is no timeline for getting a Waymo service up and running.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Mayor Daniel Lurie has cast his administration as pro-business and innovation-friendly, recently reopening Market Street<\/a> to Waymo and other ride-hail services after five years of car-free experimentation. Ruth Porat, Alphabet\u2019s president and chief investment officer, cochairs the mayor\u2019s Partnership for San Francisco<\/a>, which is tasked with improving business conditions.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Former Twitter CFO Ned Segal<\/a>, now the city\u2019s chief of housing and economic development, is acting as liaison between Waymo and SFO. The mayor\u2019s office and Segal declined to comment. A Waymo spokesperson said the company is in active talks with SFO and looks forward to further collaboration.<\/p>\n

\"\"A tale of two driverless cities<\/p>\n

The rideshare curb at Phoenix Sky Harbor is a peek into a possible future. Waymos cruise down the thoroughfare, their rotating domes peeking up from the sea of Ubers and Lyfts, their indicators blinking as they glide to the curb.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThey\u2019re really good at avoiding the congestion,\u201d said Mike O\u2019Shaughnessy, PHX\u2019s deputy aviation director for operations and my tour guide. \u201cWith their LiDAR and radar, they can see further ahead and anticipate more than humans do.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Talks with Waymo began in 2020 with a \u201ccrawl, walk, run approach,\u201d O\u2019Shaughnessy said. Two years later, the airport opened 24\/7 Waymo service to one of PHX’s two Sky Train stations. Now, more than a year after curbside service launched, the airport sees 1,000 to 1,200 Waymo trips per day. That\u2019s far fewer than the roughly 13,000 daily Uber and Lyft trips to the airport, but PHX staff expect the number to grow as Waymo expands its service area to highways and additional neighborhoods.<\/p>\n

\"\"Waymo launched at PHX’s Sky Train station in 2022 before expanding to curbside last year. | Source: Rya Jetha<\/p>\n

Back in the Bay Area, Waymo and SFO have had a far bumpier relationship. In 2023, Waymo was on its way to securing a speedy mapping permit. But airport officials abruptly reversed course, informing the company<\/a> that they were delaying approval until it had mapped the surrounding parts of San Mateo County and secured autonomous operations approval from the California Public Utilities Commission.<\/p>\n

The backtrack took place amid growing resistance to Waymo and its now-defunct competitor Cruise, which sparked anger from San Francisco residents and public officials for interfering with emergency responders<\/a> and causing mile-long traffic jams<\/a>. San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu publicly opposed expanding autonomous fleets, while activists disabled robotaxis<\/a> by placing traffic cones atop them. The furor peaked when a human-driven vehicle struck a pedestrian<\/a> and a Cruise robotaxi dragged her 20 feet, leading the DMV to suspend Cruise\u2019s permit to operate in San Francisco.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cThe environment wasn\u2019t really conducive to airport expansion then,\u201d said Robert Singleton, senior policy director for the Chamber of Progress, a tech industry trade group. \u201cIt was a time of public skepticism.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Compared to Arizona, California has a more regulated environment for autonomous vehicles.\u200b | Source: Photo by Tayfun Coskun\/Anadolu via Getty<\/p>\n

Weeks later, airport staff spotted Waymos driving by two of SFO\u2019s terminals, and officials brought the hammer down.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWaymo is directed to immediately cease and desist all operations on airport property,\u201d wrote Eva Chong, SFO\u2019s managing director of airport services, operations, and security, in a letter addressed to Waymo co-CEOs Tekedra Mawakana and Dmitri Dolgov. \u201cWhether staffed or operated fully autonomously, Waymo\u2019s operation of autonomous vehicles at the Airport creates an unsafe condition for the traveling public and impacts the efficient operation of Airport roadways.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waymo\u2019s internal review found that the manually driven test cars had mistakenly entered the airport after missing an off-ramp, communications between the two parties show.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither mapping nor autonomous driving occurred on SFO property,\u201d Waymo shot back in its response.<\/p>\n

\"\"Waymo’s timelines at Phoenix Sky Harbor, San Francisco International, and San Jos\u00e9 Mineta. | Source: Kevin Truong<\/p>\n

By the end of 2023, San Francisco and Phoenix were on dramatically different robotaxi trajectories. Phoenix had quietly become the leading test market for robotaxis, which were operating across a 225-square-mile zone in and around the capital. In December 2023, Waymo expanded its Phoenix airport service to include limited curbside service in addition to 24\/7 service at both Sky Train stations.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat helped Phoenix get there first was just a near-complete willingness from all the stakeholders to come to the table at the same time,\u201d Singleton said. He added that SFO\u2019s location outside San Francisco and highway-only accessibility have complicated the process.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"In June, Waymo added areas surrounding SFO to its zone of operation, including Brisbane, Burlingame, Milbrae, San Bruno, and South San Francisco. | Source: George Rose\/Getty Images\"\"SFO officials say they are working to create a permit system tailored for autonomous vehicles. Phoenix uses the same permitting system for Waymo as for Uber and Lyft.
\n | Source: Jane Tyska\/Digital First Media\/East Bay Times via Getty Images<\/p>\n

Long-standing pro-business policies have helped Waymo move faster in the Grand Canyon State. In 2015, Gov. Doug Ducey signed an executive order authorizing the testing of self-driving vehicles and directing state agencies to support AV development. Three years later, Ducey signed another order allowing vehicles without a human driver behind the wheel and barring Arizona cities and counties from creating their own AV rules. In 2021, the state Legislature signed Ducey\u2019s model into law. <\/p>\n

Compared to Arizona, where the Motor Vehicle Division acts as the primary regulator, California has a more layered bureaucracy, with the DMV, Public Utilities Commission, and local governments participating in the approval process. Companies here must also publicly report every collision, as well as when a human safety driver takes control of an autonomous vehicle.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe saw ourselves as the polar opposite of policy in California,\u201d said Danny Seiden, CEO and president of the Arizona Chamber of Commerce & Industry and former chief of staff to Ducey.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"Stuck in neutral <\/p>\n

After Waymo\u2019s unsuccessful efforts at securing a permit to map SFO in 2023, the company initiated a new round of talks last year as it prepared to launch curbside service to the public at PHX.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cWaymo riders in the Bay Area consistently ask Waymo to provide service to SFO,\u201d Chief Product Officer Saswat Panigrahi wrote to Airport Director Ivar Satero, touting the company\u2019s experience operating at Phoenix Sky Harbor and in San Francisco. \u201cWe would like to partner with airport leaders and staff to work towards that future goal.\u201d<\/p>\n

Waymo proposed two to three weeks of airport mapping by human-driven robotaxis, followed by a longer period of autonomous testing of airport roads and parking lots with a safety driver behind the wheel. By this point, Waymo had opened ride-hailing to all in San Francisco<\/a> and received regulatory approval to expand its 24\/7 paid service<\/a> in San Mateo County on freeways.<\/p>\n

But those discussions quickly stalled. Communications records obtained by The Standard show disagreements over insurance coverage, data sharing, and whether the mapping process required additional environmental review. At the same time, the politically powerful Teamsters Union filed a complaint with the San Francisco Ethics Commission, alleging that Waymo failed to register some of its employees as lobbyists<\/a> during mapping negotiations<\/a>. The commission declined to pursue the complaint, but the Teamsters filed a new case in February with additional evidence<\/a>. Waymo has maintained it followed all applicable regulations.<\/p>\n

\"TheSan Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie has cast his administration as pro-business and innovation-friendly. | Source: Amanda Andrade-Rhoades\/The Standard<\/p>\n

Seven months after its second proposal, Waymo finally began mapping SFO in March.\u00a0<\/p>\n

As part of Waymo\u2019s contract with the airport, it agreed to provide detailed trip-level data for each session \u2014 including entry and exit times and a location ping every 30 seconds \u2014 a level of data sharing it had initially resisted.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Now, airport officials say they are working to create a permit system tailored for autonomous vehicles, albeit similar to the one created for Uber and Lyft. \u201cGiven that self-driving cars are a new mode of transportation,\u201d said SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel, \u201cwe\u2019re working on a new permit structure.\u201d<\/p>\n

However, if it proceeds at the rate of past permissions, the process could take years. Uber launched in San Francisco in 2010, but SFO didn\u2019t officially permit its use until 2014<\/a>. By contrast, Phoenix expedited permissions for Waymo by using the same permitting system as existing rideshare companies, which includes a flat $5.15 fee per pickup or dropoff.<\/p>\n

The lack of progress at SFO has some calling for Lurie to step in. \u201cAt this point, the mayor should light a fire under the airport commission,\u201d Riggs said. \u201cThe city needs to find a way to get this done.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"San Jos\u00e9 Mineta will become the first California airport to offer a commercial robotaxi service. | Source: Amy Osborne\/Getty Images\"\"SJC is launching a robotaxi service in advance of Santa Clara County hosting the Super Bowl and World Cup in 2026. | Source: Smith Collection\/Gado\/Getty ImagesLosing pole position<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, other airports are studying Phoenix\u2019s success story. Sky Harbor regularly hosts delegations from across the globe to show how it trained its staff and first responders to incorporate driverless cars into the environment.<\/p>\n

\u201cFor example, we have a lot of one-way roads at the airport, so we had discussions about how a Waymo should react if a human were going the wrong way,\u201d said Gallego. \u201cWould it be better to pull over? No one had dealt with those questions before.\u201d<\/p>\n

But both the mayor and PHX staff emphasize that the rollout of a robotaxi service is not a one-size-fits-all blueprint for airports. \u201cThere\u2019s a saying in the airport industry,\u201d said O\u2019Shaughnessy. \u201c\u2018If you\u2019ve seen one airport, you\u2019ve seen one airport.\u2019 Every single one is different.\u201d<\/p>\n

Now, another Bay Area airport has solved the puzzle to get Waymo onto its grounds. By the end of the year, San Jos\u00e9 is set to launch a commercial robotaxi service that will include its airport.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s the perfect time for Waymo\u2019s autonomous vehicles to begin to roll into San Jos\u00e9, the capital of Silicon Valley,\u201d said Mayor Matt Mahan. \u201cWaymo embodies our region\u2019s spirit of innovation.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Or at least one part of the region.\u00a0<\/p>\n