• by Tanya Gazdik , Yesterday

A Waymo driverless taxi in operation in Los Angeles (Photo Credit: Tanya Gazdik/MediaPost)

The New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers protested outside New York Governor Kathy Hochul's office earlier in the week, asking her to halt Waymo's testing of its self-driving vehicles in New York City.

“The NYSFTD said it fears that hundreds of thousands of drivers are at risk of losing their jobs if Waymo becomes a permanent fixture in the city,” according to Fox5. 

"They're trying to replace 200,000 men and women that make the city move today," NYSFTD spokesperson Fernando Mateo told the press at the protest.

Google's parent company and owner of Waymo, Alphabet, applied for a permit with New York City's Department of Transportation to test its autonomous vehicles in June. New York City Mayor Eric Adams and the DOT approved the permit on Aug. 22. Adams said in a statement that street safety would be prioritized, according to The Associated Press.

“The first driverless robotaxis hit the streets of the Big Apple as part of a test program with humans still in the driver seat, though some New Yorkers said futuristic tech is a disaster waiting to happen,” according to the New York Post. “Waymo officials are assessing how its vehicles will handle city obstacles like jaywalkers, taxis, cyclists and carriage horses as up to eight robotaxis make their way around Brooklyn and Manhattan.”

The vehicles won’t be taking on riders for the duration of the pilot, which will wrap in September with the possibility of an extension, according to a spokesperson for the company.

“The permit brings Waymo one step closer to launching a robotaxi service in the city, which would be arguably its most challenging to date,” according to TechCrunch. “The company currently operates in San Francisco, Austin, Phoenix, and Los Angeles. All of those are warm-weather cities, and only San Francisco comes close to the complexity of operating in New York City.”

A MediaPost reporter experienced the technolgy firsthand in San Francisco and Los Angeles (photo above) and found it to be very safe.

Not everyone thinks the new technology is a bad idea. 

Local STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) organizations think there could be positives. Michelle Gall, founder and executive director of Digital Girl, Inc. says seeing the taxis could  encourage students who are interested in STEM.

"It's exciting to be able to apply what they've been learning over the summer to what the possibilities are,” Gall tells News12 Brooklyn. “You know, seeing the Waymo technology really kind of put two and two together and make them say, 'OK, you know, this is really great.' And to be able to see it up close and personal and look firsthand is really important.”