Waymo heads to the Big Apple.
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.
