- Waymo wants to deploy its driverless cabs in New York City.
- It applied for a permit to test with safety drivers.
- New York's chaotic streets could be Waymo's hardest challenge yet.
Waymo on Wednesday announced plans to expand its autonomous taxi service to New York City. The Big Apple—with its treacherous potholes, jaywalkers, bikers and generally chaotic environments—could be the robotaxi company's biggest challenge yet.
Waymo still has a long way to go before it can actually launch a driverless service, however. The company said it applied for a testing permit with New York City's Department of Transportation, which would allow testing with a safety driver behind the wheel.
In a social media post, Waymo called this "a key step to one day serving New Yorkers."
One roadblock: New York state law currently prohibits operating a vehicle without a person in the driver's seat. Waymo said it's working on it. "We're also advocating for changes to state law to allow us to bring our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city one day," the company said.
In the meantime, Waymo said it will start mapping New York's streets with human-driven vehicles next month. Waymo also brought cars to map the city back in 2021.
Regulations will only be part of the challenge. There's clearly heaps of cash to be made ferrying people around the five boroughs. But it's also full of jay walkers, narrow streets, double-parked cars and delivery e-bikers going the wrong way. It's a place where weather can vary drastically—unlike the cities where Waymo has deployed thus far.
Even before potentially conquering America's largest city, Waymo is far ahead of other autonomous vehicle companies in the U.S. It offers rides to paying customers in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, with Miami and Washington, D.C. in the pipeline as well. In May, it announced plans to more than double its fleet of 1,500 Jaguar I-Paces through 2026.
Waymo is picking up steam and expanding rapidly just as Tesla attempts to get its footing. After years of promising that self-driving Teslas were right around the corner, the car company plans to start offering driverless rides in Austin as soon as this Sunday.
Got a tip about the EV world? Contact the author: Tim.Levin@InsideEVs.com
