After years of negotiations and false starts, Waymo is now cleared to operate a robotaxi service to and from San Francisco International Airport (SFO). The Alphabet Inc. company said in a blog post Thursday that it will begin offering access to SFO to some passengers before rolling it out to all customers in the coming months.
Pick-up and drop-off is at the SFO Rental Car Center, accessible by AirTrain. Waymo said it plans to offer the service at more airports in the future.
Waymo’s SFO victory comes as the company faces criticism and concerns about safety in some cities where it operates. Waymo announced Thursday that one of its robotaxis hit a child near an elementary school in Santa Monica. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is investigating a Jan. 23 incident in which a child suffered minor injuries. Waymo is also under investigation by NHTSA and the National Transportation Safety Board over illegal robot taxi operations around school buses.
Access to airports, particularly SFO, is critical to Waymo’s business model, which is driven by geographic size and passenger volume.
“Transportation to San Francisco International Airport provides one of the most requested features for our passengers and further deepens our relationship with San Francisco,” Waymo co-CEO Tekedra Mawakana said in a statement.
The company has accelerated its plans over the past year, expanding into new cities, expanding its fleet size and adding highways to its operations. Waymo robotaxis currently serve much of the San Francisco Bay Area to Silicon Valley with access to San Jose Airport. It also serves parts of Atlanta, Austin, Los Angeles, Miami, and most of Phoenix, including curbside service to Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport.
It took Waymo years to advance its operations in SFO. The company unsuccessfully tried to secure permission to map SFO in 2023 as a first step toward bringing robotaxis to SFO. Waymo then resumed negotiations with the city and airport authorities and received permission to create a map of SFO with some data-sharing strings in March 2025, according to contract language seen by TechCrunch at the time.
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By September, SFO and Waymo had signed a test pilot permit, moving the company closer to commercial operations at the airport.
