A City of San Antonio Zoning Commission decision just cleared the way for more driverless vehicles in San Antonio.
Electric vehicle manufacturer Tesla already offers robotaxis in Houston, Dallas and Austin. Now, they could be coming to San Antonio after zoning commissioners approved a new robotaxi parking lot and charging station in Tobin Hill.
Waymo’s autonomous vehicles first started driving down San Antonio streets earlier this year. The company suspended passenger service in the city in April after flash flooding washed away one of its vehicles and highlighted a software issue, but Waymo is “working to resume soon” and could bring its new van, called the Ojai, to San Antonio.
Foothold for Tesla
On July 21, San Antonio’s zoning commission approved a change in an 8-2 vote allowing Austin-based Tesla to charge and keep electric vehicles at a parking lot on Josephine Street near the Nathaniel Hawthorne Academy, a public elementary school, and down the street from Pearl.
Attorney Patrick Christensen representing landowner RS Josephine Development said that they had previously planned to build a mixed-use building with 900 apartments and ground-floor commercial space, but that plan was scrapped after costs rose over the past three years.
RS Josephine Development is a limited liability company registered to Jim McAlister IV, the founder of Houston investment firm Rockspring.
Christensen said the company would lease the parking lot to Tesla and have full-time staff on site to plug in and monitor vehicles.
“One of the important reasons why Tesla chose this site is because it has sufficient power. They can’t just put these things anywhere. You’ve got to have the right power infrastructure for them to be able to plug into to charge up the cars,” Christensen said.
The vehicles could also be programmed to avoid roadways in front of the neighboring Nathaniel Hawthorne Academy, he said.
Zoning commissioners debated the robotaxi’s place in San Antonio after City of San Antonio staff recommended denying a zoning change because such a facility would be “inconsistent with the area’s evolving development pattern.”
“We’ve given more flexibility to higher density in exchange for no parking because we’ve said that this area is meant to be walkable and dense,” said Commissioner Melissa Loseff, of City Council District 2. “The area is walkable. It should be moving towards walkable. I don’t think we need these in our city.”
But a majority of commissioners disagreed.
“These robo taxis are going to be game-changing in reducing the number of vehicle miles traveled on our roads,” said Commissioner Moses Leib Duewel of District 9.
Duewel said the robotaxis could provide travelers more alternatives to individually driven cars, which he saw as consistent with transit-oriented development.
Kin Yan Hui, who chaired the commission’s meeting, voted for the zoning change, but added that city’s Unified Development Code should be updated as more autonomous vehicles hit the roads.
Waymo returns to San Antonio
Waymo’s autonomous vehicles stopped serving riders in San Antonio after floodwaters washed one vehicle away and led to concerns about how the company’s software responded to roadways covered with water.
Waymo spokesperson Chris Bonelli would not provide an exact date, but said services will resume soon.
“Tens of thousands of San Antonians have been granted access to Waymo, but it is not yet available to everyone. Once we resume service, opening access to all riders in the city will be our next step,” he wrote in an email.
Bonelli added that services may be suspended or adjusted during future flooding events.
The company had been offering rides around downtown, the North Side and the Frost Bank Center in its classic white Jaguar I-PACE. Bonelli said Waymo is also rolling out a new vehicle in baby blue.
“We are currently testing a growing fleet of our new Ojai vehicles across many cities,” he said. “These vehicles feature a more spacious interior and operational improvements, including easier-to-clean interiors, faster charging, and larger battery capacity.”
