Topline
Waymo secured a permit from New York City on Friday to test its autonomous vehicles on the city’s streets, days after New Yorkers reported spotting some of Waymo’s distinctive cars driving around Manhattan, though the vehicles had human drivers.
A Waymo vehicle in San Francisco. New York state law still requires autonomous vehicles to have a human behind the wheel.
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Key Facts
New York City Mayor Eric Adams announced the city’s Department of Transportation gave Waymo a permit Friday to test up to eight autonomous vehicles in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn through late September.
During the testing period, a trained autonomous vehicle safety specialist must be sitting in the driver’s seat at all times, according to Adams’ statement.
Waymo told TechCrunch it plans to start testing its autonomuos vehicles “immediately” (Forbes has reached out to Waymo for comment).
Waymo will be able to apply for an extension to its testing period once it expires.
Earlier this week, New Yorkers reported seeing Waymo vehicles around Manhattan, though Waymo said in a statement to Forbes these vehicles would be manually powered by drivers until it secured the permit for its vehicles to drive autonomously.
New York’s Department of Transportation Commissioner Ydanis Rodriguez said in a statement the department has implemented “comprehensive safety guidelines to ensure safe, responsible testing on our city’s streets.”
Key Background
Waymo, an autonomous vehicle company and Alphabet company, first began offering driverless ridesharing services to all customers in Phoenix in 2020. It has since expanded to multiple cities including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Austin, where it competes with Tesla’s Robotaxi service—but largely remains the leader in the emerging industry so far. The company previously tested its vehicles in parts of Manhattan in 2021. New York’s iconic yellow cab industry was devastated when rideshare companies like Uber and Lyft moved into the city. Now, New York City’s Taxi and Limousine Commission’s annual report said there were 178,917 active licensed drivers in 2024, a number that includes both taxi drivers and for-hire vehicle drivers.
Surprising Fact
Although Waymo applied for a permit to operate autonomous vehicles, New York state law requires these vehicles to have a person present in the driver’s seat at all times. Waymo told Forbes it was lobbying to change this regulation.
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/zacharyfolk/2025/08/22/waymo-secures-permit-to-test-autonomous-cars-in-new-york-city/