Waymo applies for special permit to bring its self-driving cars to New York City
Waymo is doing what was once unthinkable: bringing its robotaxi service to the streets of New York City next month.
"We've applied for a @NYC_DOT permit to drive autonomously with a specialist behind the wheel while we're in the city — a key step to one day serving New Yorkers," the Alphabet-backed (GOOG, GOOGL) company said in a post on X.
Waymo said it is also advocating for changes to state law to bring its fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city in the future. New York's busy streets, with vehicles, pedestrians, bikers, and all sorts of delivery drivers, are seen as one of the most challenging terrains for a rototaxi operator.
Waymo's announcement of a future New York City-based service comes amid a planned nationwide expansion. The company operates in parts of San Francisco, Phoenix, Los Angeles, and Austin, and just announced it was expanding service in greater Los Angeles and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Tesla (TSLA), which is slated to begin its robotaxi testing in Austin starting next week, will not use safety drivers in its cars when its test begins but will have remote teleoperators available. Two Tesla robotaxis were seen testing in Austin last week, but Tesla employees were sitting in the passenger seat.
Waymo, the leader in the robotaxi space with 250,000 trips per week, counts competitors like Zoox (backed by Amazon (AMZN)), China's Pony AI (PONY) and WeRide (WRD), and of course Tesla, though none operate in as many regions or perform as many autonomous rides as Waymo. Volkswagen's MOIA revealed its ID. Buzz AD robotaxi in Germany this week. However, its vehicles plan to use other operators' platforms, like Uber, to deploy its vehicles.
Waymo's expansion counts on its ability to manufacture more vehicles, which the company said will expand to 2,500 vehicles in the near future. Though that production is much smaller compared to what a traditional automaker like Tesla or VW can produce, Waymo is countering that issue by partnering with manufacturers like Toyota and China's Zeekr.
Pras Subramanian is the lead auto reporter for Yahoo Finance. You can follow him on X and on Instagram.
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