Waymo at San Francisco airport
Driverless rides began serving San Francisco International Airport, at first for a limited set of riders, with pickup at the rental car centre.
Why it matters
An airport was the last setting driverless services were kept out of: its own traffic rules, its own operator, and a queue of cars that does not tolerate hesitation.
The company said plainly that it was starting with a select number of riders and would open access gradually over the coming months, and that pickups and dropoffs would begin at the rental car centre, reached by the AirTrain, with terminal access to follow later. The difficulty is contractual rather than technical: the airport belongs to the city, has its own approach rules and access fees, and every such agreement must be negotiated separately.