Waymo, an autonomous driving service under Alphabet(GOOGL.US), is rapidly expanding its presence in the San Jose and San Francisco airport regions.

Alphabet's (GOOG.US, GOOGL.US) self-driving car unit Waymo has been granted conditional permission to expand its service to the South Bay area, including most of San Jose and the San Francisco Airport district. Waymo announced on X that it has been granted "permission to operate fully self-driving services in an expanded South Bay area, including nearly the entire San Jose area," though the public will not be able to use its service immediately. "We are working closely with local officials, emergency responders and the community to safely expand our driving operations," Waymo said. The temporary permit, which began March 14, marks a major step for Waymo toward autonomous taxi service. Waymo's vehicles will use human drivers to map the area, a process that could take about two weeks, and the company hopes to eventually start operating its self-driving taxis there. Waymo last failed to get a permit for the airport area in 2023. The current approval is conditional, including a requirement that Waymo share specific data after each mapping and track vehicles entering and exiting the airport. Waymo also cannot use autonomous vehicles for commercial freight hauling. Mapping the area could take about two weeks, after which Waymo would have to get another permit to start testing its self-driving cars.