Opposition Grows to Self-Driving Taxis in NYC

A New York City street safety advocacy group is raising the alarm after the city approved a program to allow self-driving taxis, Gothamist reported.

Waymo, an autonomous taxi company owned by Alphabet, received approval from the city's transportation department to operate self-driving vehicles through next month, Gothamist reported. Waymo operates robot taxis in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Phoenix, and Austin.

Waymo can now begin testing a limited number of its self-driving cars in parts of Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn.

New York State law requires that a test vehicle operator be present at all times and be ready to assume control of the vehicle while the self-driving technology is in operation.

Open Plans is concerned that Waymo's vehicles are not appropriate for New York City streets, Gothamist reported.

"This was a pilot that was initiated with very little public input," said Michael Sutherland, a policy researcher with Open Plans, in comments to Gothamist. "From a safety perspective, this is a technology that hasn't been tested out in incredibly dense cities like New York City."

Sutherland said the city should focus on making public transit more reliable instead of cars.

In May, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration announced a recall of more than 1,200 Waymo vehicles, noting there were seven incidents involving collisions with chains or gates over an 18-month period beginning in 2022.

Waymo has issued data claiming its vehicles are safer than vehicles driven by humans, saying their cars have been involved in 88% fewer serious-injury crashes than the average human driver over the same distance, Gothamist reported.

Information from Reuters was used in this report.

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