Autonomous Vehicles to Hit the Streets of NYC for the First Time

As if New York’s taxi drivers didn’t get squeezed enough by the Ubers and Lyfts of the world, New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced on Friday that the New York Department of Transportation has granted Google’s autonomous vehicle subsidiary, Waymo, a permit to test its self-driving cars in the city. It’ll be the first fully self-driving car to operate within the city.

Waymo will roll out eight vehicles in New York City starting in September, and they will operate in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn, with the possibility of expanding to other boroughs in the future, according to CNBC. While the cars will operate autonomously, New York state will require Waymo to keep a driver behind the wheel at all times in case intervention is needed. Back when Waymo applied for the permit in June of this year, it said it would lobby to change the law, but the company can probably just slip into a chip bag to get Adams to sign off on that and save itself the lobbying effort.

“We’re a tech-friendly administration and we’re always looking for innovative ways to safely move our city forward,” Adams said in a press release. “New York City is proud to welcome Waymo to test this new technology in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as we know this testing is only the first step in moving our city further into the 21st century.” Last year, Adams signed off on a program that would allow autonomous vehicle testing in New York as a part of an effort to bring companies like Waymo into the city.

This isn’t the first time autonomous vehicle operators have tried to worm their way into the Big Apple. In fact, Waymo first asked for permission to put wheels down in the concrete jungle back in 2021, when it brought vehicles to the city. That visit consisted mostly of manual driving, and the company used the trips to gather data about driving in icy and snowy conditions and operating in a densely populated area. Four years later, they’ll finally get to see if they learned enough to operate in NYC without issue.

New York City has been something of a white whale for Waymo, which is already operating in several major markets. The company runs its ride-hailing service in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Austin, claiming to complete more than 250,000 rides per week. Waymo plans to expand to Atlanta, Miami, Dallas, and Washington, D.C. next year and will add more than 2,000 cars to its fleet. Getting into New York would be a coup for Waymo, but more importantly, it could give us a modern version of the famous “I’m walkin’ here!” moment from Midnight Cowboy.