Alphabet’s self-driving venture Waymo is targetting New York City, as it continues to expand its driverless robotaxi service across major US cities.
CNBC reported that Waymo on Wednesday has applied for a permit with the New York City Department of Transportation to begin testing its robotaxis on the complex and congested streets of that city.
New York is not the only major city being eyed for potential robotaxi services. Earlier this month UK-based autonomous mobility firm Wayve, which is backed by the likes of SoftBank, Nvidia and Microsoft, teamed up with Uber to conduct a robotaxi trial in London.
New York testing
Like London, the streets of New York City are very congested, and are often full of roadworks and construction, as well as pedestrians, cyclists, and parked cars.
The Waymo robotaxi service of course is available other US cities that are less heavily congested and challenging, but the New York move is notable as the busy city already has a well entrenched conventional taxi fleet, coupled with Uber and Lyft services.
And New York state does not currently allow full autonomous vehciles on its roads, meaning Waymo’s robotaxis in New York will be required to have a trained specialist behind the wheel at all times.
Waymo is reportedly advocating for a change to the state’s law.
“While we won’t be in New York full-time yet, we have every intention of bringing our fully autonomous ride-hailing service to the city in the future,” the company was quoted by CNBC as saying in an announcement. “We’re working towards that goal in a few key ways.”
“We’re advocating for a change in state law that would allow for operating a vehicle with no human behind the wheel,” the company reportedly said.
This is not the first time that Waymo has been in New York.
It last deployed its cars in New York back in 2021, but that was only for data collection and weather testing purposes, and also involved a person driving the vehicle.
Waymo expansion
In May Waymo has confirmed it had conducted 10 million trips, which had doubled since the start of 2025.
On a weekly basis, Waymo is currently delivering more than 250,000 paid robotaxi (without a driver), Alphabet confirmed in its April earnings report.
It operates in cities such as Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin, Texas.
In Phoenix and Austin it offers a robotaxi via the Uber app.
Waymo is also planning to offer a robotaxi service in Atlanta, Miami and Washington, DC.