Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo plans to return to New York City next month for autonomous vehicle testing as it continues to grow its operations across the United States.
The company has applied for a permit from the New York City Department of Transportation to operate self-driving cars with a trained specialist behind the wheel in Manhattan.
Until the permit is granted, Waymo will conduct manual driving in the city. The company said this is not part of an expansion but added that it plans to launch its fully autonomous ride-hailing service in New York in the future.
If approved, this would be the first autonomous vehicle testing deployment in the city.
Current New York State law does not allow driverless vehicles without a human behind the wheel, and Waymo said it is pushing for legal changes to allow such operations. The company first brought its vehicles to Manhattan in 2021 for manual testing and data collection.
Waymo said on Tuesday it is also expanding to more areas of the San Francisco Peninsula and parts of Silicon Valley. It received approval from California regulators last month to increase its operations.
The race to roll out robotaxis is accelerating as Waymo increases testing and Tesla prepares to begin small-scale trials of its autonomous taxi service with about 10 vehicles this weekend.
Waymo is currently the only company in the United States operating robotaxis with paying riders. It runs more than 1,500 vehicles and completes over 250,000 rides each week across San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Austin.
