Last week, Waymo got the green light to begin operating at San Jose Mineta International Airport (SJC), the first airport in California to announce a commercial robotaxi service.
It’s a big milestone for the Bay Area, which has seen a slower robotaxi rollout than neighboring Arizona despite being the birthplace of the technology. Waymo is expected to launch its ridehailing service across San Jose this year, in advance of Super Bowl LX and the FIFA World Cup coming to Santa Clara County in 2026.
We sat down with San Jose Mayor Matt Mahan to talk about the Waymo negotiations, his plans for robotaxi expansion as visitors descend upon the region next year, and his interactions with Tesla and Zoox.
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Plus, he shares his advice for other Bay Area airports, including SFO, which has hit repeated speed bumps during its discussions with the Alphabet-owned company.
The following conversation has been edited for length and clarity.
What was your involvement in the negotiations between Waymo and SJC?
Going back about 18 months, I was down in L.A. for our annual San Jose Chamber of Commerce trip and had the opportunity to meet with Waymo executives and do a test drive. That was my first experience being in a Waymo and seeing how it operates. I was really impressed with the technology and how far it had come.
Waymo reached out to our airport a little over a year ago to inquire about our permit process. The airport provided guidance on where Waymo could conduct initial testing in mapping, and they began that work in August and September of 2024. So it was less than a two-month turnaround to have them out in the field testing.
The DMV granted Waymo AV operation for the South Bay in March, after which we authorized them to conduct pullover testing with a safety driver. In May, they received their transportation charter party permit from the California Public Utilities Commission to conduct commercial AV operations across most of San Jose. In August, Waymo formally applied for their airport general transportation permit. We issued that Sept. 3, and now we are basically ready to go!
Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport has had 24/7 curbside Waymo service for more than a year, but our airports are far behind. Granted, Arizona’s regulatory environment is more lenient than California’s. What kind of regulatory changes would you like to see in California?
Yes, [comparing Phoenix and San Jose] is not apples to apples. San Jose is often the fastest and first to innovate in California, but then we look at cities in other parts of the country and say, “Why can’t we move even faster?” And it largely has to do with state regulations and process. My ask to Sacramento is to reevaluate many of these processes and become more outcome-oriented.
When I look at mobility, it seems to me that the two big trends are electrification and automation. We need to electrify our fleet, just as China has, and there’s no doubt that autonomous technology will become the norm. It is convenient to not have to drive, and it is safer. We should lead this transition and not be held back by fear or special-interest groups that want to protect the status quo. If California’s going to continue to be the most innovative place in the world, we have to be entrepreneurial and take risks to be on the cutting edge.
Talk us through your big-picture plan for autonomous vehicles in San Jose. Will I be able to fly into SJC and take a robotaxi straight to Levi’s Stadium?
Well, we hope you fly in at least a day or two early and hang out in downtown San Jose, because we’re booking talent for concerts and drone shows. Downtown San Jose is where the party is going to be in 2026.
Regional expansion will also be up to Waymo and other operators — these are not our fleets, just to be clear. But my sincere hope is that people can fly into SJC, hop in a Waymo, not need to rent a car for their three- or four-day stay, and travel all over San Jose, up the Peninsula to San Francisco, to the game at Levi’s Stadium, and know that they have safe, convenient, on-demand access to electric AVs that will get them where they need to go.
I know Waymo is looking now at downtown San Jose, Santana Row, and other key areas where visitors will likely want to go. I suspect Waymo sees the same opportunity I do. This is our moment to showcase the best of Silicon Valley for the more than 500,000 visitors from all over the world who will come here for Super Bowl and World Cup games.
Have you interacted recently with other robotaxi companies, such as Tesla or Zoox?
I have had a couple of conversations with an early Tesla investor and suggested that we’d love to connect with the company and welcome them here. The fact that we are supporting Waymo and moving to full autonomous operations shortly should be a signal to companies around the country that we’re open for business. I had a call with Zoox a year or so ago, but we haven’t had a formal conversation recently. Your question is a good prompt for me to reach out to both companies and bring more competition to the market here. We’re also exploring a potential airport connector with Glydways [a startup building autonomous pods for public transit].
What advice do you have for other Bay Area airports, like SFO, that are figuring out robotaxi airport access?
I would just put them in touch with the leaders over at SJC. We’ve got great city staff who have a mindset of continuous improvement and always asking what’s next and how we can do better. There’s always this rhetoric around technology versus people, like it’s either/or. We don’t see it that way. We’re investing heavily in AI upskilling, because we want to empower our residents with the latest and greatest tools. We don’t see these things as zero sum, and so I’d advise other cities to cultivate this kind of culture.