We seem to make the same mistake over and over: Awestruck by a shiny new technology, we ignore the potential dangers and move ahead, despite the repeated warnings. We’re watching it happen with artificial intelligence. Even as experts in the field caution against the dangers it poses to society and the future of humankind, appropriate guardrails still haven’t been put in place, the technology continues to grow in sophistication, and the attitude of the general public seems to be “gee whiz, isn’t that image cool?” rather than “maybe we should pump the brakes and take this a little more slowly.”
Although autonomous vehicle (AV) tech doesn’t pose as profound an existential threat to the future of humankind, if it’s rushed into existence – as Waymo hopes it will be – it not only would be the death knell for tens of thousands of driver jobs in New York City alone, you can expect mayhem to ensue. Neither New York City nor its residents are built to accommodate these types of vehicles.
In an article that recently ran in The Dispatch, columnist Slim Smith wrote, “I don’t see how driverless cabs could make it in a city where abiding by the rules of the road is routinely ignored. An automobile that hesitates even for a second or allows a gap of a few inches sets off a cacophony of blasting horns and shouted expletives.”
New York City pedestrians also notoriously ignore traffic laws, whether they are distracted or looking for an insurance payout. Knowing that Waymo has deep pockets and that the cars are designed to stop if someone walks into the street, the risk of people testing the boundaries of the technology in a dangerous way is real.
“New York City is different [than other cities where the technology is being tested], to be sure,” The Daily News Editorial Board recently noted in an opinion piece. “We’re a pedestrian-first city with narrow streets where there’s a constant, delicate ballet of bikes, e-bikes, mopeds, double-parked trucks, buses and more. That’s before one even begins factoring in weather conditions that are much more complex than anything in those other sunnier climes.”
Waymo, a robot-driven car service owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, applied for a permit in June with the city’s transportation department to test out a small fleet of AVs in an outlined Manhattan zone between Central Park and the Battery, and some parts of Downtown Brooklyn. If approved, the cars wouldn’t pick up passengers yet… but would guide themselves while a company employee monitors from the passenger’s seat.
Currently, state law mandates that any car in New York must be operated by a human, but advocates from various segments of NYC’s ground transportation industry worry that enough cash from Waymo lobbyists could turn that mandate into a mere speed bump, and they have started to circle the wagons.
“There are a lot of obstacles Waymo will need to address to get lawmakers to remove the ban, which seems to have significant opposition, currently” explained Ira Goldstein, Executive Director of The New York Black Car Fund. “Unlike in other areas where Waymo operates, New York State and City only allow self-driving vehicles to be tested with a human driver behind the wheel.”
Goldstein went on to say he has begun communicating with other stakeholders across the city’s vast ground transportation industry. A working group is currently being assembled to discuss the concerns and issues that will surely arise if true Waymo AVs are introduced onto New York City streets.
“Anything that could affect our covered drivers is concerning,” Goldstein added. “I will be sure to provide updates as the discussions continue. This is not a matter of wanting to be on the cutting edge, we don’t want to be on the bleeding edge.”
According to an article that ran in Gothamist, “Waymo representatives argued human cabbies can co-exist with robot drivers, but made no promise the company wouldn’t try to one day replace New York’s taxi drivers.” In fact, in June, Waymo admitted it is lobbying in favor of changing the law. An effort to do so is currently before the transportation committee of the State Senate, but it stalled out in the Assembly.
Waymo’s meager attempt to blunt the pain that would be felt from the loss of tens of thousands of driver jobs and shuttered companies was: “We also know that a new workforce will be needed to support fleets of autonomous vehicles, and are working hard to make those opportunities available to more people.” The company said its “footprint” helps create jobs, including mechanics for the autonomous vehicles and managers who help run the fleets. What a joke!
Waymo representatives have also argued that robot drivers are safer than humans behind the wheel. But in May, the company recalled more than 1,200 of its driverless cars after a software bug caused them to crash into gates, chains and general roadway barriers. The development of driverless cars, in general, has been an exercise in trial and error – with lots of errors. Between 2019 and 2024, there were 3,979 reported incidents involving driverless autos. In cities that are far easier to navigate than NYC, self-driving cars have stumbled into construction zones, blocked ambulances and made some other highly dangerous mistakes.
Regardless, The Daily News reported in June that, “
Starting next month, New Yorkers may start to see vehicles with remote sensor systems know as LiDAR – Light Detection and Ranging – on city streets,” albeit with a human pilot, as per state law.
“The whole premise of autonomous cars is flawed when applied to taxi service in New York, where all of the years of testing, tinkering and modifications to ensure that autonomous vehicles adhere to safety rules are antithetical,” said Dispatch columnist, Smith. “Properly facilitating a seamless entry into the world of New York driving would require ditching a lot of those practices (say, maintaining proper distances from other cars or staying in the appropriate lane at all times). In their place, software would have to be introduced that suited New York driving… It would have to know when to run up on curbs, scrape bumpers, dash into oncoming traffic, roll through traffic signals and defy pedestrians who might be tempted to cross its path.
Maybe someday there will be a robotaxi that would be able to assimilate to New York driving, although frankly, I don’t see how. It’s like writing rules for rule-breakers. Only in New York is careful driving considered to be a menace. I don’t see that changing anytime soon.”
I would like to hope that logic will prevail, and the city and state do not allow Waymo to rush an AV program into existence, regardless of how much money they spend trying to bend the law to their will. There is so much to consider, not the least of which being that Waymo CAN NOT add to the congestion that congestion pricing is trying to curb and the people who have invested their savings to become TLC-licensed drivers aren’t left in the dust as another tech company attempts to buy its way into the market without proper oversight, and before it’s fully ready to handle the public safety issues that it would present.
