Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has become the first airport in the world to offer a Waymo fully autonomous vehicle service to the general public.
In early November, Waymo began offering its Trusted Tester participants the opportunity to take autonomous rides to and from downtown Phoenix and the airport with an autonomous specialist in the vehicle. Now, Waymo has removed the autonomous specialist from the vehicle, and anyone can hail a Waymo to ride between the airport and downtown Phoenix.
Rides are available 24 hours, seven days a week in Waymo’s fully electric Jaguar I-PACE equipped with the fifth generation Waymo Driver software. Pick-ups and drop-offs occur at the 44th Street PHX Sky Train Station where travellers can take the free PHX Sky Train direct to the terminals. Trains arrive and depart every few minutes.
This new service comes two years after Waymo opened its fully autonomous commercial ride-hailing service, Waymo One, to the public in the East Valley of Phoenix; and builds on the company’s strong partnership with the City of Phoenix.
Waymo also announced it is more than doubling the Waymo One service area in Downtown Phoenix. The expansion connects the airport service to a large swath of the downtown area, offering safe and convenient mobility options to users.
Phoenix Mayor Kate Gallego arrived at the 44th Street and Washington PHX Sky Train Station via a Waymo vehicle to launch the new service. She said: “Phoenix is leading the future of mobility and modernising how the world will experience travel. This exciting technology offers our customers an additional option for travelling to the airport in a clean, sustainable, and technologically advanced mode of transportation. The future has arrived in Phoenix.”
Image: Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport
