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Waymo is ramp up efforts to advance admission to a remunerative robotaxi utilisation case : pickups and drop - offs at the San Francisco International Airport , according to emails viewed by TechCrunch and prevail through a Freedom of Information Act postulation .
Waymo already has the required permits tocommercially work its robotaxi service24 hr a day in the city of San Francisco , part of the Peninsula and highways that strain the aerodrome .
admittance to the aerodrome expect a separate approval from the San Francisco Airport Commission . Technically , permission can be issued at the airport ’s prudence , accord to SFO spokesperson Doug Yakel . However , this will not be dim-witted and may mirror the process SFO officials went through when Uber and Lyft first sought access more than a ten ago .
Waymo would need a primer coat Department of Transportation permit to operate at SFO , which has yet to be okay . “ give that this is a new mode of transportation , we would need to create a new permit bodily structure , exchangeable to what we did 10 years ago for companies like Uber and Lyft , ” Yakel wrote in reaction to inquiry .
Despite the challenges , and anunsuccessful effort in 2023to receive a license to map out the drome , Waymo is pressing ahead with what promise to be a lengthy process .
The email exchanges between Waymo executives , San Francisco Airport General Manager Ivar Satero , SFO Commission member and Mayor London Breed ’s office are informational in nature and generally center on planning and scheduling practical and in - person meetings .
And while the material reckon by TechCrunch suggests conversation were happen as far back as March , the first high-pitched - spirit level outreach kicked off April 15 when Waymo Chief Product Officer Saswat Panigrahi sent Satero an email that expressed sake in meeting to discuss the company ’s “ mission , engineering science , trading operations , and safety approach , ” according to the email . The city manager ’s DoT place did not respond to a petition for remark .
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“ We have experience offering Robert William Service in San Francisco and operating at Sky Harbor Airport in Phoenix , ” the e-mail continues . “ Waymo riders in the Bay Area systematically ask Waymo to supply serving to SFO . We would care to partner with drome leaders and staff to work towards that future end . Please let us sleep together what your availableness is to connect and we will plan accordingly . Thank you for your prison term and condition . ”
A Waymo voice confirm that the company has had “ preliminary discussions ” with the San Francisco International Airport to begin what is described as “ noncommercial mapping and driving cognitive operation with a homo behind the wheel at the airport . ”
“ Similar to how we ’ve successfully partnered with Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport to offer our Waymo One ride - hailing inspection and repair , we ’ll proceed with SFO in a phased and collaborative way , ” the Waymo spokesperson added in an emailed program line .
The first adjective step would be for Waymo to conduct digital mapping of the drome ’s roadways . Waymo attempted to get permit to map in 2023 from Abubakar Azam , the airport ’s manager of landside process . A calendar month later , Azam postponed the map permission , according to email recounted in a report from Mission Local . Azam said he want to delay that licence until Waymo complete mathematical function for at least the cities surrounding SFO and secured autonomous cognitive process approval from the California Public Utilities Commission ( CPUC ) for San Mateo County .
That CPUC approval occurred in March 2024 .
“ We have yet to approve this operation , as we would first like to see them gain more experience safely serving our surrounding communities before nurse any activity , even map , at the airport , ” Yakel said , adding that SFO officials and commission members are supervise Waymo ’s ontogeny .
