Waymo’s milestone SFO mapping permit comes with strings attached

Waymo has been given permission to map roadways at the San Francisco International Airport (SFO) via a temporary permit — the first step in the Alphabet company’s bid to unlock a potentially lucrative use case for its robotaxis. The temporary permit, which was announced Monday evening by San Francisco Mayor Daniel Lurie, kicked off March 14. Waymo vehicles will not operate autonomously in the airport. Employees will manually drive the vehicles to map the area. However, the permit signals the beginning of a phased approach to Waymo eventually operating commercially there. “This mapping permit is an important step toward bringing the Waymo service to the millions of people who travel to and from the city each year,” according to a statement from Nicole Gavel, head of business development and strategic partnerships at Waymo. “Many of those travelers have placed SFO at the top of their service expansion wish list.” The permit marks a turnaround for Waymo, which failed to secure a permi ... Read full article.