Tuesday, alphabet Self-driving car developer Waymo announced that it will begin offering all-day curbside pickup and drop-off service at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport in Arizona. The announcement came without much fanfare — a post on X — but it’s a sign that after years of delays, self-driving cars may be moving (literally) in the right direction.
Gartner auto analyst Mike Ramsey says the new airport curbside service bodes well for Waymo’s business. “Airports are a major destination and launch point for all mobility services, whether it’s taxis, shuttles or autonomous robotaxis,” he says. Nearly a decade ago, then-startups Uber and Lyft struggled to gain access to airports. Price-sensitive business travelers, families with luggage and people who don’t want to pay the cost of parking at the airport all want an easily accessible ride, making airports an ideal base for taxi services.
Even before the all-day curbside service began, the airport was Waymo’s most popular destination in Phoenix, said Brad Gillette, Waymo’s market leader for the city. Waymo has been operating self-driving cars in Arizona since 2017 and began offering ride-hailing services to Phoenix airport in late 2022. In the first year of service, passengers could only get on and off at low-traffic stations along the airport’s “SkyTrain.” Late last year, Waymo launched nighttime curbside service from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., when the airport is less crowded. Now, the service is available at any time to anyone who downloads the company’s Waymo One app.
The company says that since it launched its station service about two years ago, it has completed approximately 100,000 trips to and from the airport and now serves thousands of travelers every week.
Airport curbs at departure and arrival gates are also really tricky places to drive. Getting in and out, finding passengers, and maneuvering in tight spaces is tough for humans. Gillette said Waymo spent a year testing to make sure its technology “could anticipate and react appropriately, with a degree of aggressiveness, to get in the right place at the right time.”
Waymo will pick up and drop off passengers at designated terminal ride-share and electric vehicle pickup areas, Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport spokesman Eric Eberts said in an email. Through the Waymo app, passengers will be given a specific amount of time to stay to board the vehicle, and if they don’t meet the deadline, the vehicle will abandon them, Eberts wrote. That means traffic officers won’t have to bother with the self-driving cars getting around.
Bumpy Ride
Curbside pickups and drop-offs became a contentious issue last summer when Waymo and competitor Cruise applied to launch full-time, paid passenger robotaxi services in San Francisco, essentially formally taking on Uber and Lyft in the city where those services originated. In a letter to regulators overseeing the permits, the city said it was concerned the robotaxi vehicles weren’t close enough to the curb to pick up and drop off passengers.
The concerns didn’t matter much to regulators who oversee the operation of self-driving cars in California; the commission approved the permit in August 2023. (Cruise later had its permit to operate rides in the state revoked after state officials alleged the company had covered up details of an incident in which an autonomous vehicle dragged a pedestrian about 20 feet.) But to some city officials and residents, the robotaxi’s roadside behavior is a cause for concern. no thanks.
