On the Ground Intelligence

Waymo drops riders within a two-minute walk of Houston's Rothko Chapel, providing autonomous access to the 1971 landmark and the adjacent free Menil Collection, home to works by Rothko and Cy Twombly.

Zoox's custom robotaxi service between Resorts World and Harry Reid International Airport's Terminal 1 in Las Vegas delivers a genuinely superior cabin experience over traditional rideshares, but suffers from material operational gaps. Wait times on the return leg ballooned from 28 to 45+ minutes, while phantom braking near construction zones and false seatbelt triggers from loose luggage interrupted otherwise confident autonomous driving at speeds up to 43 mph. Expanded service hours of 8 AM–1 AM and well-marked Level 0 airport pickup infrastructure signal growing maturity, but dispatch reliability and edge-case sensor accuracy remain the service's clearest barriers to scale.

At the 2026 Paris Motor Show, XPENG's NGP system powered by VLA 2.0 completed a 30-minute supervised urban loop through Paris — one of only two ADAS systems, alongside Tesla, authorized by event organizers to conduct public test rides. The seven-camera, vision-only system navigated roundabouts, tram lanes, cyclists, and pedestrians with zero driver interventions, though its only friction point came during automated parking, where it struggled to differentiate a two-inch transitional curb from the primary sidewalk curb before ultimately completing the maneuver.

Waymo operates curbside pickup and drop-off at San Antonio International Airport under the city's 2019 TNC Operating Agreement, which charges $2.50 per trip and grants no exclusivity or franchise rights. The 9.9-mile ride from SAT to The Alamo took 33 minutes and cost $29.66, with the 15 mph airport speed limit and lack of highway access adding significant time versus an estimated 15–21 minutes via highway. Performance was consistent, but routing constraints, not technology, remain the primary limitation.

Waymo requires SFO riders to walk 24 minutes from the United terminal to a designated pickup zone at the Grand Hyatt, as its 46-page airport permit explicitly prohibits curbside pickup without written director approval. A strict eight-minute staging limit caused a trip cancellation and $5 fee on the first attempt. Freeway performance was flawless, but access remains the critical barrier until curbside authorization is granted.

Waymo and Avis are constructing a permanent operations depot in Dallas within five miles of Love Field Airport, featuring roughly 40 DC fast charging points across 10 Alpitronic HYC-400 units. Current active operations run on temporary Aggreko generator-powered skids rather than a grid connection, while the fleet mixes commercial Jaguar I-PACEs with approximately a dozen next-gen Ojai vehicles under testing.