The Google-owned autonomous driving company is taking on one of the toughest cityscapes with humans as helpers
- Waymo has applied to test autonomous cars in New York City with human drivers.
- The company aims to expand its operations, already testing in multiple U.S. cities.
- New York’s tough traffic and safety laws remain a significant challenge for Waymo.
Autonomous driving technology is rapidly making its way into our daily lives, and it’s only getting bigger. This month, Tesla is testing in Austin, and now, Waymo is making its own headlines, too. The Google-owned company is aiming to test its Level 5 autonomy technology in New York City. Before it officially expands, it’ll use humans behind the wheel for safety.
As of this writing, Waymo already has over 1,500 driverless cars operating across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin. If it gets its way, it’ll soon expand to New York City, but it has some hurdles to overcome first. On its X account, it says it’s already applied to begin testing.
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If approved, testing will begin next month with a human behind the wheel. The company hasn’t clarified whether that person will actually drive the car or just keep an eye on things, but we’re leaning toward the latter. Waymo did run tests in NYC back in 2021, though those cars were manually driven at the time. Right now, state law doesn’t permit fully autonomous vehicles in New York, but the company is actively working to change that.
A Waymo spokesperson told Bloomberg: “We’re hopeful New York can enact regulatory changes that would allow us to bring our service to the city and state in the future, and we continue to have positive conversations with local and state elected officials, regulators, and community organizations.”
It’s already working to expand its network in the cities it operates in. Still, New York City is a different animal in many respects. Few places in the United States have the mix of heavy vehicle traffic, pedestrians, and cyclists dynamically moving in the way they all do in New York City.
All of this is happening as the competition to gain market share in this space heats up. Aside from Tesla trying to get on similar footing as Waymo, Amazon-owned Zoox just announced plans to open a production facility in the USA. At full capacity, it should build some 10,000 autonomous vehicles a year.
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