Airport shuttles with robotaxis
The airport run is the trip a robotaxi is best at: short, repetitive, all day. The hard part is not the driving but the curb, which every airport permits, prices and zones. This page covers the fees, who has access today, the luggage limit, and what a privately owned Cybercab would need, starting with the fact that no Cybercab serves any airport terminal today.
Last reviewed
Definition
A robotaxi airport shuttle is a driverless vehicle carrying passengers between an airport and nearby hotels, offices or homes under the airport’s ground transportation permit, from zones the airport designates. A Cybercab airport transfer is that trip in Tesla’s two-seat vehicle, not yet permitted at any airport.
- Robotaxis with airport access
- Waymo at PHX, SJC, SFO and SAT; Zoox at Las Vegas since September 3, 2026
- Cybercabs at an airport
- None. Tesla’s Orlando zone excludes the MCO terminals
- DockDuty’s status
- Depot targeted for Orlando, Q4 2026; no site chosen, no airport permit held
- The constraint
- The permit sits with the dispatching network, not the car’s owner
Why the trip fits, and why the curb is the problem
Orlando International handled 57,675,573 passengers in 2025, the seventh busiest airport in the country (Known). Many leave the terminal for a hotel within a few miles, many in pairs. That is a robotaxi’s ideal trip: a known origin, a short hop, and a return leg with the next passenger.
The curb is where it breaks. An airport sets its own rules for who may pick up, where, and for how much. Every driverless network at an airport today got there through a permit, a zone and usually a fee. A car that can drive to the terminal is not a car that may stop there.
Permits and fees
The numbers are public:
- MCO. The Greater Orlando Aviation Authority requires a Commercial Ground Transportation permit. Its per-trip fee for ride-hail companies rose from $5.80 to $6.35 in August 2023 and to $7.00 in October 2023 (Known); Uber called it the highest in the country.
- LAX. Ride-hail companies pay $4 per pickup and dropoff. On March 10, 2026 the airport approved $6 at the ground transport center and $12 at the terminal horseshoe once the people mover opens (Known).
Florida’s AV law does not change this. Fla. Stat. 316.85(6) bars a city or county from imposing any tax, fee or for-hire requirement on autonomous vehicles, but lets an airport or seaport charge reasonable fees consistent with those charged to similar services and designate staging and pickup locations; 627.748(17)(b) says the same for ride-hail networks, which 316.85(4) says on-demand AV networks are (Known). Our reading: the state preempts the city, and GOAA can still permit, price and zone a robotaxi at MCO. More in robotaxi laws by state.
What $7 means: at Tesla’s public Orlando fare of $3.25 plus about $1 a mile (Known), a five-mile hop is roughly $8.25. A $7 per-trip fee, if applied to a robotaxi as to a ride-hail car, nearly doubles it (illustration; no robotaxi fee is published).
Who has airport access today
| Network | Airport | What is permitted | Label |
|---|---|---|---|
| Waymo | Phoenix (PHX) | Curbside since December 2023; 24-hour curbside at Terminals 3 and 4 from late summer 2024 | Known |
| Waymo | San Jose (SJC) | Since September 4, 2025; pickups at Terminal A Stop 9 and outside the Terminal B Rental Car Center | Known |
| Waymo | San Francisco (SFO) | Public access January 29, 2026, only at the Rental Car Center and the Grand Hyatt, not the terminal curb. Permit path: mapping permit March 14, 2025, pilot permit September 2025, then a separate ground transportation permit. Fees undisclosed | Known; fees unknown |
| Waymo | San Antonio (SAT) | Since March 31, 2026; curbside dropoff, pickup at the airport’s rideshare zone | Known |
| Zoox | Las Vegas (LAS) | Paid driverless pickups since September 3, 2026, the first at that airport: Terminal 1 and Terminal 3 pickups on Level 0. Needed Clark County Department of Aviation and State of Nevada approval; fees undisclosed | Known |
| Tesla | Orlando (MCO) | The July 24, 2026 zone hugs Semoran Boulevard and Lee Vista beside the airport and does not serve the terminals | Known |
| Tesla | Austin (AUS) | The unsupervised map expanded on June 3, 2026 to the whole metro including Austin-Bergstrom; no airport agreement documented; about 20 unsupervised vehicles | Reported |
DockDuty has no relationship with any network or airport named here; they are precedents only.
The pattern: Waymo took nearly a year at SFO from mapping permit to public rides and still cannot use the terminal curb; Zoox needed county and state approval; Tesla’s only documented airport presence is a Terminal B rideshare lane at San Jose, added October 27, 2025, with a safety driver in every Bay Area car (Reported). No Cybercab is documented at any airport.
Luggage and the two-seat limit
Tesla’s Cybercab Rider Guide lists two seats, 20.2 cubic feet (572 liters) of rear cargo, a 220-pound trunk limit and a 16.5-inch step-in height (Known). Tesla does not publish a bag count, so two riders with carry-ons fit and a couple with two large checked bags is not answered. Tesla’s own answer for riders who need more space on its network is a Model Y (Known). A shuttle contract would need the same fallback, plus the ADA-equivalent accessible vehicle covered on the hotel shuttle page.
Staging from a depot near the airport
Every airport runs a cell-phone lot where drivers wait for the call. A robotaxi needs the same thing with power: after a dropoff a car either circles, which airports hate, or returns to a lot to charge, clean and wait. The closer that lot, the fewer empty miles per paid trip.
DockDuty’s first depot is targeted for Orlando in Q4 2026, a target and not a date, and no site is chosen. The Semoran and Lee Vista corridor that Tesla’s Orlando zone already covers is where the demand sits, so distance to it is a siting criterion, not a decision. The plan is a staging pool, not a curb: cars would wait charged at the depot and be dispatched by whichever network holds the airport permit. The depot’s job list is on the Cybercab depot page; the state of the site is on the Orlando page.
What an owner’s car would need
Three things, none of which exist yet for a privately owned Cybercab:
- A network with the permit. MCO’s permit office licenses companies that provide ground transportation. The permit would sit with the network dispatching the ride, not the car’s owner, on our reading.
- Terms for joining that network. Tesla has not published owner-program terms; its September 3, 2026 fleet interest form states it is not a purchase order (Known).
- A place to wait. A charged staging lot inside the network’s zone, the part DockDuty is building.
The owner’s wider question is in what can a Cybercab be used for.
What is known, and what is not
- Known. Airports permit and charge ground transportation; MCO’s ride-hail fee is $7 a trip; Waymo serves four airports and Zoox one; Florida law lets GOAA fee and zone robotaxis.
- Reported, not confirmed. Tesla’s Austin map covering the airport with no documented agreement, and the San Jose lane.
- Not known. What fee any airport charges a driverless network. Whether Tesla will seek MCO access, or admit a privately owned car to its network.
- Not known. What a Cybercab airport transfer earns. No privately owned Cybercab is in service anywhere.
DockDuty’s role
Stated plainly · September 2026
DockDuty is building a third-party depot for privately owned Cybercabs; it is not an airport shuttle operator and holds no airport permit. Its first depot is targeted for Orlando in Q4 2026, a target and not a date; no depot is open, no lease is executed, no customer vehicle is in its care and no customer has earned anything. DockDuty would stage, charge and ready cars for whichever network holds the permit. DockDuty is not affiliated with, endorsed by, sponsored by, or partnered with Tesla, Inc., or with any airport.
Frequently asked questions
Can a robotaxi pick up at an airport today?
Yes, at five US airports. Waymo serves Phoenix, San Jose, San Francisco (not at the terminal curb) and San Antonio; Zoox began paid driverless pickups at Las Vegas on September 3, 2026. Each needed an airport permit and a designated zone. No Cybercab is permitted at any airport.
Can a Cybercab do airport transfers in Orlando?
Not to the terminal. Tesla’s Orlando zone, launched July 24, 2026, hugs Semoran Boulevard and Lee Vista beside the airport but does not serve the MCO terminals, and Tesla has announced no MCO permit. Rides inside the zone run on Tesla’s own cars, not privately owned ones.
What does an airport charge a robotaxi per trip?
Nothing is published for robotaxis; Waymo’s SFO fees and Zoox’s Las Vegas fees are undisclosed. For ride-hail cars, MCO charges $7.00 a trip and LAX $4 per pickup or dropoff. On our reading of 316.85 and 627.748, Florida law lets airports charge autonomous networks fees consistent with those charged to similar services.
Does luggage fit in a Cybercab?
Some. Tesla’s Rider Guide lists 20.2 cubic feet of rear cargo and a 220-pound trunk limit but no bag count, so two riders with carry-ons fit and a couple with two large checked bags is not answered. Tesla’s answer for riders needing more space is a Model Y on its network.
Could a privately owned Cybercab run airport pickups from a DockDuty depot?
Only once three things exist: a network holding the airport permit, published terms for an owner’s car to join it, and an open depot. None does today. DockDuty’s first depot is targeted for Orlando in Q4 2026, with no site chosen yet; it would stage and charge cars, not hold the permit.
Sources
- Orlando Weekly, MCO 2025 passengers, July 29, 2026, and MCO ride-hail fees, July 24, 2023; GOAA, GT Permit Office.
- LAist, LAX ride-hail fees, March 2026.
- Fla. Stat. 316.85 and 627.748, 2025.
- Waymo, airport help page; TechCrunch, San Antonio, March 31, 2026, SFO mapping permit, March 17, 2025, SFO public access, January 29, 2026; San Jose Mineta, SJC release, November 12, 2025.
- TechCrunch, Zoox at Las Vegas airport, September 3, 2026.
- Orlando Weekly, Tesla robotaxis in Orlando, July 2026; Yahoo Autos, Austin map expansion, June 2026; Tesla North, San Jose airport lane, October 27, 2025.
- Tesla, Cybercab Rider Guide; Not a Tesla App, Q2 2026 call, July 22, 2026; Motley Fool, paid Cybercab rides, September 4, 2026; TechCrunch, fleet interest form, September 3, 2026.
- DockDuty’s own facts: Orlando depot status, rate card, operators page.
Running airport transfers? Tell us what you’re running.
Corridor hotels, shuttle contractors and fleet owners: the operators form is where it starts.
No depot is operating yet. Orlando is targeted for Q4 2026, and that is a target rather than a date.