New York City is set to follow Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin which allow fully autonomous self-driving cars as an option in ride-hailing services for the general public. Waymo applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to operate autonomously with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan, beginning next month.
New York state law currently prohibits a service like Waymo from operating without a driver, but the company is advocating for a policy change. Operations in New York, once properly permitted, will be in a test phase. However, the company stated that, “While we won’t be in New York full-time yet, we have every intention of bringing our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city in the future, adding, “We’re working towards that goal in a few key ways.”
Waymo first came to New York City in 2021, but cars still have not been operating fully autonomously. Waymo’s self-driving vehicles have spread to numerous cities across the US, and if its permit gets approved by the Department of Transportation, it would be New York City’s first experiment with the deployment of autonomous vehicles.
The issue of safety has arisen as a concern with self-driving cars, with numerous accidents and injuries reported across cities. However, Waymo claims its services make “roads safer” with fewer injury-causing crashes compared to human drivers. New York officials said they are making safety a priority with the commencement of this service. “We have put in place safeguards and conditions for any type of autonomous vehicle to ensure that this technology is deployed appropriately.”
The operation of autonomous vehicles is not without its complications. Critics of Waymo’s ever-expanding reach state the New York City is full of its own unique challenges—cyclists, jaywalkers, and pedicabs, just to name a few—that make it unsuitable for the service compared to Los Angeles and San Francisco. Matt Daus, president of the International Association of Transportation Regulators, counters by asking, “If they can do it on the West Coast, why should New York City be left behind?”
Waymo has already expanded into Atlanta, offering autonomous ride-hailing services in partnership with Uber, with plans to operate in Miami and Washington, D.C. by 2026 as well. Waymo’s intention to create a larger presence in NYC aligns with the increasingly technologically dependent future the world is headed for.
