Google's autonomous vehicle unit Waymo will gather data on city streets as it evaluates future robotaxi services in the Northeast U.S.
Craig F. Walker/The Boston Globe via Getty Images
Waymo is hitting the road again, this time heading up to the Northeast. The Google $GOOGL-owned self-driving car company kicked off two new “road trips” on Monday to Philadelphia and New York City, hinting at its growing interest in bringing robotaxis to some of the country’s busiest cities.
This doesn't necessarily mean you’ll be hailing a Waymo ride in Philly or NYC anytime soon, though. It’s really just the first step. Earlier this year, Waymo took similar trips to places like Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Antonio. The company generally sends out a few human-driven vehicles loaded up with its autonomous tech to map out new streets and collect data. Later, it tests those cars in self-driving mode — still with someone behind the wheel — before engineers take all that info back to tweak the AI.
Sometimes, these trips do lead to actual service. In 2023, Waymo visited Santa Monica as part of its Los Angeles expansion, and now you can catch one of its robotaxis cruising around LA, from Santa Monica to Beverly Hills and Hollywood.
In New York, Waymo’s cars will stick to manual driving for now, with human drivers covering routes from just north of Central Park all the way down to The Battery, plus parts of Downtown Brooklyn, according to TechCrunch. They’re also mapping areas across the river in Jersey City and Hoboken.
Waymo applied last month for a permit to test its self-driving cars in NYC with a safety driver, but it hasn’t gotten the green light yet.
This isn’t Waymo’s first time in New York, either. Back in late 2021, it sent a small fleet to map parts of Manhattan and New Jersey. Earlier this year, it took a trip up to Buffalo to see how its tech handles winter weather.
Even if Waymo does get approval to start autonomous testing in the city, it’ll still be a while before you see empty robotaxis driving around. New York doesn’t allow fully driverless cars without a human up front — something Waymo is hoping to change.
For now, Waymo’s robotaxi services are running in Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix, with plans to launch in Miami later this year and Washington D.C. in 2026.
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