I’m about to ask a very dumb question and I apologize. But how come captains are only allowed to do the taxi at airlines? Yes they’re the pilot in command. That flight is their responsibility. But I always wondered why the first officer doesn’t do it as well.
Steven,
Not a dumb question at all.
First and foremost, pilots taxi the airplane with a “tiller” that’s used for steering (think small steering wheel or handle on the side of the seat). Many commercial jets only have one tiller and it’s in the Capt’s side. In that case FOs couldnt taxi simply because it wasn’t possible. I think this started years ago because there’s more stuff to hit on the ground and since the Capt is PIC, if an FO hits something, the responsibility still falls on the Capt (and or it was just cheaper to only have a single tiller). However, with the introduction and stronger emphasis on CRM (Crew Resource Mgmt) and roles being more clearly defined as PF (pilot flying) and PM (pilot monitoring) vs position, many new planes do in fact have 2 tillers and some airlines do allow FOs to taxi.
Adam
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Steven,
I have flown airplanes that have both one, or two tillers. Regardless of which, my airline only allows the Captain to taxi. The reasons are twofold:
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Ground operations represent one of the highest threat environments for damage to an aircraft. There are other airplanes, countless vehicles, walls, antennas, etc that can cause damage to an airplane. It just makes sense to have the most experienced pilot taxiing the airplane.
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First Officers actually have a fair amount of work to do on the taxiout, such as verifying the weights, doing final departure checks, talking on the radio, etc, they are busy and just do not have time to be able to focus on taxiing.
Good question.
Chris
I get to drive from the right seat 
As Adam and Chris already mentioned, it’s company and airframe specific. Don’t quote me but I think for us it’s fleet specific as well, I don’t think our 777 FO’s get to drive even though they have a tiller on their side. 
Steven,
As the others said (minus Alex because Atlas is special), most airlines make it an S.O.P. and workload, that if a tiller is installed on both sides, the first officer is not to operate the tiller. I’ll soon get to navigate the airplane around the ground (@Guoseph) 
Fun fact of the day, the Embraer 145 tiller has a 71-degree turn factor. If our nose clears, the wings clear. 
Brady
Congrats on upgrading Brady!
Tell me how you like the tiller on the 145. Felt weird to have to push down on it and turn, I always accidentally let up on the pressure mid turn in the sim and the nose wheel would pop back to center and shake the whole sim. I don’t know if that happens in real life or not, never got to try it 
It’s different…LOL 
Brady
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Brady,
Lots of the CA’s I fly with are former 145 guys and they mention that you use a combination of the rudder pedals and the tiller for turns? In the 175 pressing the steering handle will disengage rudder pedals completely.
In the sim during initial I was able to taxi a few times from the left seat. It definitely takes some getting used to pressing the handle down during turns.
Roscoe
It’s like anything new. It’s a little strange then it gets natural.
Adam
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Roscoe,
The hydraulic tiller will give us 71 degrees, the pedals give 5 degrees, combined 76 degrees worth of turning! Add some adverse thrust and differential braking and I’m sure you could make a tighter turn (would I, absolutely not, especially running the risk of getting that nose gear off the steering assembly).
Brady