The Alphabet subsidiary said it is the first in the autonomous-vehicle (AV) industry to make paid trips to an airport. Members of Waymo’s testing program will be able to use its app to hail rides to Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport. An “autonomous specialist” will be in the driver’s seat at the start and eventually removed, Waymo said. (The Logic, The Verge)

Talking point: The self-driving car company, which began as a Google project in 2009, has been under pressure to commercialize its technology. Its executives have promised for years that fleets of AVs are just around the corner, only to move back timelines. Waymo currently offers paid AV rides in suburbs near Phoenix, but it’s still testing its Waymo Driver system in downtown areas. If its cars can navigate busy airports, they could be a large revenue source: the company told The Verge that about 20 per cent of manual ride-hail trips are to or from airports. Its backers include Canada’s largest pension fund, CPP Investments, which participated in a US$2.5-billion fundraising round last year.