- Updated: March 31, 2026
- 5 min read
Waymo Launches Robotaxi Service at San Antonio International Airport
Image Credits:Waymo Transportation Waymo starts robotaxi services at San Antonio International Airport Sean O’Kane 6:25 AM PDT · March 31, 2026 Waymo’s robotaxi service is going live at its fourth airport today: San Antonio International. The company said its vehicles will drop off riders curbside at the terminals, and pick up passengers at the airport’s designated ride-share area.This is the first airport Waymo is servicing in Texas, where the company currently operates in San Antonio, Austin, Dallas and Houston. Waymo has been offering airport pickups and drops at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International for a few years now, and has started servicing the San Francisco and San Jose Mineta International airports over the past few months. Waymo launched its San Antonio robotaxi service in February, though it’s still not fully available to the public yet.The company has been operating an invitation-based system that it is scaling on a rolling basis — an approach it used in Dallas, Houston and Orlando, too. The company said on Tuesday that its waitlist in San Antonio is now “[t]ens of thousands of people” long and that it plans to make its service available to “all public riders soon.” This phased approach is one way that Waymo is still being cautious in a year of otherwise rapid expansion.The company has said it wants to launch in around 20 new cities this year, including in Tokyo and London. Its robotaxi service is currently live in 10 cities and is running more than 500,000 paid rides per week, roughly double the number it was operating at this time last year. Waymo is expected to start offering rides in its newest vehicle, the Zeekr-built van called Ojai, at some point this year.The company has shared data that it says proves its robotaxis are already safer than human drivers and reducing serious crashes. Still, Waymo keeps running into new obstacles as it expands. Waymo’s robotaxis have illegally passed school buses that were picking up or dropping off children, a problem that is being investigated by both the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB).It has issued software updates to address this problem, but is still working with local officials in Austin, where the most school bus incidents have been documented, to figure out how to make its robotaxis behave around the buses, according to Wired. The NTSB and NHTSA are also investigating the company after one of its robotaxis crashed into a child at a low speed in Santa Monica.The child reportedly sustained minor injuries, and Waymo said its robotaxi slowed from 17 miles per hour to 6 miles per hour before it made impact. Techcrunch event Disrupt 2026: The tech ecosystem, all in one room Your next round. Your next hire. Your next breakout opportunity. Find it at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, where 10,000+ founders, investors, and tech leaders gather for three days of 250+ tactical sessions, powerful introductions, and market-defining innovation.Register now to save up to $400. Save up to $300 or 30% to TechCrunch Founder Summit 1,000+ founders and investors come together at TechCrunch Founder Summit 2026 for a full day focused on growth, execution, and real-world scaling. Learn from founders and investors who have shaped the industry. Connect with peers navigating similar growth stages. Walk away with tactics you can apply immediatelyOffer ends March 13.San Francisco, CA | October 13-15, 2026 REGISTER NOW We’re also learning more about everything that goes into Waymo’s on-the-ground operations as it expands. The company has dozens of so-called “remote assistance” staff located in the U.S. and the Philippines who help Waymo’s robotaxis navigate tricky or unexpected scenarios.Waymo also relies on a team of “roadside assistance” workers — as well as first responders — in the rare case that a vehicle gets truly stuck, as TechCrunch recently detailed. Topics autonomous vehicles, avs, robotaxi, Texas, Transportation, Waymo Sean O’Kane Sr. Reporter, Transportation Sean O’Kane is a reporter who has spent a decade covering the rapidly-evolving business and technology of the transportation industry, including Tesla and the many startups chasing Elon Musk.Most recently, he was a reporter at Bloomberg News where he helped break stories about some of the most notorious EV SPAC flops. He previously worked at The Verge, where he also covered consumer technology, hosted many short- and long-form videos, performed product and editorial photography, and once nearly passed out in a Red Bull Air Race plane. You can contact or verify outreach from Sean by emailing sean.okane@techcrunch.com or via encrypted message at okane.01 on Signal.View Bio April 30 San Francisco, CA StrictlyVC kicks off the year in SF. Get in the room for unfiltered fireside chats with industry leaders, insider VC insights, and high-value connections that actually move the needle. Tickets are limited.REGISTER NOW Most Popular Why OpenAI really shut down Sora Connie Loizos The Pixel 10a doesn’t have a camera bump, and it’s great Ivan Mehta Anthropic’s Claude popularity with paying consumers is skyrocketing Julie Bort Waymo’s skyrocketing ridership in one chart Kirsten Korosec The AI skills gap is here, says AI company, and power users are pulling ahead Rebecca Bellan Google unveils TurboQuant, a new AI memory compression algorithm — and yes, the internet is calling it ‘Pied Piper’ Sarah Perez Kentucky woman rejects $26M offer to turn her farm into a data center Graham Starr Loading the next article Error loading the next article
Andrii Bidochko
CTO UBOS
Andrii Bidochko is an AI entrepreneur and researcher focused on AI agents, reinforcement learning, and autonomous systems. He writes about the technologies shaping the future of machine intelligence, from frontier models and agent architectures to real-world AI applications.