Select Waymo One riders can get now Picked up or dropped Next to the company’s robo-taxi dock at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
Waymo became the first self-driving vehicle operator in the United States to launch a paid robo-taxi service to and from the airport in November 2022. The service went to the airport shuttle at the 44th Street Sky Train station. Navigating through station barriers will be a whole new challenge, but Waymo is starting with limited hours, from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., and at Stations 3 and 4 only, in order to spread out and learn safely.
Waymo has already completed “tens of thousands of airport trips to date” and offers more than a thousand trips each week, According to the company. Waymo says the average trip rating for airport trips was about 4.7 out of 5 stars.
The expansion of Waymo’s airport service comes as former rival Cruise lays off nearly a quarter of its employees and fires a handful of executives in the wake of an Oct. 2 accident that left a pedestrian stranded and then towed by one of its robotaxis.
Waymo’s new airport service, which is fully autonomous (meaning no human safety operator behind the wheel), will only be available “to a select group of active riders in Phoenix, and not necessarily or exclusively to trusted testers,” said Chris Bonelli, director of communications. The product is at Waymo. Waymo told TechCrunch. Waymo’s trusted testers are riders who have been vetted by the company and have historically signed nondisclosure agreements. Waymo says it has raised its NDA requirements across the board this year.
The Alphabet-owned company intends to open these pickup locations to all its passengers and expand to 24/7 service in the “coming months” as it gains more experience at the stations.
“Last year, we partnered with Waymo to become the first airport in the world to offer travelers the ability to take a self-driving vehicle to the airport,” Chad Makovsky, director of aviation at Sky Harbor Airport, said in a statement. “This partnership has allowed us to develop confidence in the technology, and we are excited to take the next step and safely expand this innovative service to our terminals.”