Waymo Plans to Test Self-Driving Cars in NYC

Waymo, the self-driving car pioneer owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, has announced its intention to introduce a small fleet of autonomous vehicles in New York City as early as next month.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the company mentioned it has applied for permission to test these vehicles in Manhattan, though this effort isn’t characterized as an expansion. Instead, Waymo emphasized its goal of providing fully autonomous ride services to the city in the future.

To operate these unmanned vehicles, Waymo is advocating for changes to New York state law, which currently requires a human driver to be present in self-driving cars.

In the past, particularly in 2021, some of Waymo’s vehicles drove through busy urban areas, but they were fully operated by human drivers for mapping purposes.

Currently, Waymo has about 1,500 fully electric, self-driving cars operating in cities like San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.

New York City, however, presents unique challenges—everything from jaywalkers and cyclists dodging bike lanes to horse-drawn carriages and ongoing construction. It’s certainly a different environment.

Just like in 2021, Waymo plans to manually navigate vehicles across Manhattan while awaiting the necessary permissions.

As of now, the NYC Department of Transportation and Governor Kathy Hochul’s office have not provided comments in response to inquiries.

Since its inception in 2009 as Google’s self-driving initiative, Waymo has significantly expanded its operations and currently provides over 250,000 automated paid trips each week in major U.S. cities. The service has claimed that incidents resulting in injuries are fewer compared to the average human driver, suggesting that overall road safety is enhanced.

Yet, operating vehicles without human oversight is not without its difficulties. Recently, Waymo had to suspend its autonomous services in downtown Los Angeles after five of its cars encountered issues during a volatile protest.

Earlier this year, the company faced challenges concerning software problems that raised the risk of vehicles hitting objects like chains or gates. There have also been numerous reports of the vehicles getting involved in crashes, which led to frustration among residents, particularly when some vehicles halted unexpectedly on highways.