[aaronharnly]

This sentence was a bit cute: "Waymo has received our pilot permit allowing for commercial operations at San Francisco International Airport." Yeah, that kind of pilot.

I really had to read through it twice to make sure they were just talking about car taxis picking up travelers, rather than some kind of prototype pilotless commuter helicopter or something.

[danielvaughn]

That was my first interpretation, and I was very surprised and kind of afraid. Glad to know they aren't trying for autonomous flight yet.

[bdcravens]

I have zero expertise for my claim, but I feel like autonomous flight is easier than autonomous driving.

[amelius]

"Autopilot" already exists when it comes to flying.

[Fomite]

Mine as well, and I was crossing SFO off the list of airports I'd connect through.

[blackkettle]

Cool, I wonder if this means they will finally start letting foreign visitors also use the app. I'm an American living abroad now for many years, and I was initially super excited to try Waymo in LA and SF this summer when I visited with my family. Unfortunately they only make the iPhone app available via the US app store, and while I actually have a US credit card that I could have in theory used to make the switch, Apple makes it an absurd pain to change your region as they require you to both a) cancel any existing subscription AND b) wait until they all expire. Most tourists have it worse as they have no option to even switch in theory.

[nicoburns]

Huh, as a Brit, I was able to use Waymo just fine on this summer on my Android device.

[dlcarrier]

See also: garden-path sentence (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Garden-path_sentence)

[seany]

This is actually why you have "Naval aviators". To maritime people a pilot means something else. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maritime_pilot

[loeg]

The flying kind is a license, not a permit.

[simonbw]

There are driver's licenses and learner's permits. This could be the flying equivalent.

[ricksunny]

lol deniable demand-gauging :)

[tdeck]

Honestly I think the title should be edited. The first time I scrolled past it I had the same obvious interpretation.