Waymo has been licensed to roads on the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) map with a temporary license, the first step in the Album’s bid to unlock potentially profitable use cases for its robot.
San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie announced a temporary permit on Monday night to begin on March 14.
Waymo vehicles will not run automatically at the airport. Employees will manually drive the vehicle to draw the area. However, the license marks a gradual approach to starting operating commercially there.
This map license is an important step in bringing Waymo services to millions of people traveling to and from the city every year. According to a statement by Nicole Gavel, Waymo’s head of business development and strategic partnerships, many travelers place SFO on the top of the service expansion wish list.
The license marks Waymo’s turnaround Failed to obtain a license Map SFOs in 2023. It also comes with some connected strings, including data sharing, according to the language in the protocol watched by TechCrunch. With Waymo’s phased approach launched, the language may be included in a future agreement with the City and San Francisco Airport Commission, which starts with mapping and then undergoes autonomous testing with human safety operators, driverless testing, and ultimately commercial operations.
According to the protocol viewed by TechCrunch, Waymo must provide specific data after each mapping session for each vehicle per vehicle. Under the agreement, this “data interface protocol” requires Waymo to enter and leave the airport and provide time, geographic location, identification, Trip identifier, transaction type, unique identifier based on the driver and vehicle license number.
The agreement also prohibits Waymo from using self-driving cars to move commercial goods. Waymo Close its self-driving truck program in 2023The company has since redoubled its efforts, not parcels. However, the language can prevent future commercial delivery applications, which has attracted attention International Team Brotherhood.
Limits are enough to receive the blessing of Peter Finn, vice president of the West.
“We would like to thank Mayor Lurie for holding all parties together,” Finn said in a statement. “With the leadership of bringing all parties together, SFO Director Mike Nakornkhet created a template for responsible implementation of new technologies to consider the impact on safety, work and community.”
Waymo has stepped up efforts More than a year ago According to the emails viewed and reported by TechCrunch at the time, the pickup and drop-off of the SFO can be accessed.
The approval process is long and requires separate approval from the San Francisco Airport Commission. Technically, SFO spokesman Doug Yakel told TechCrunch last year that permits can be made at the airport’s discretion.
However, SFO officials are expected to go through the process when Uber and Lyft first sought visits more than a decade ago. At present, Waymo has signed a temporary access agreement to map the SFO airport roads. Waymo will eventually need to operate a ground transport license on the SFO, which has not been approved yet.
