By Natalie Lung, Bloomberg
New York Governor Kathy Hochul has pulled a proposal that would have allowed for commercial robotaxi services outside New York City, a blow to Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo as it seeks to aggressively expand its driverless fleet this year.
The proposal, which Hochul had included in her budget proposal last month, would have allowed autonomous-vehicle companies such as Waymo to apply for permission to pilot their services without human operators in the vehicle. The decision to withdraw the plan was confirmed Thursday by the governor’s office to Bloomberg News.
“Based on conversations with stakeholders, including in the legislature, it was clear that the support was not there to advance this proposal,” said Sean Butler, a Hochul spokesperson.
Waymo said in a statement to Bloomberg that it was “disappointed” by the governor’s decision. “We’re committed to bringing our service to New York and will work with the state legislature to advance this issue.”
The move is a setback for Waymo, which is planning to hit more than 1 million paid weekly robotaxi rides in the US by the end of this year. The company has said it plans to expand across 20 cities in 2026 in the US and abroad, including in Dallas, San Antonio, Orlando, Nashville and London. Although Hochul’s initial proposal excluded New York City, expanding in the rest of the state would have gotten Waymo a step closer to serving one of the biggest ride-hailing markets in the world.
Alphabet’s stock briefly fell as much as 1% after the news, but has since rebounded. Shares of Tesla Inc., which has begun offering robotaxi services at a small scale in the US, at one point fell as much as 1.8%.
The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents more than 20,000 rideshare and taxi drivers, celebrated the decision after earlier opposing the robotoxi plan on the grounds that it could replace some human workers.
“If job loss matters in New York City, it also matters for other drivers in the state,” said Bhairavi Desai, executive director of the NYTWA. “If drivers lose jobs upstate, we would expect them to come to the city for work. There may be regulatory boundaries, but there is no practical boundary in this industry. It would be naive for Waymo to be satisfied with a couple of cars in Rochester when a majority of jobs come from the city.”
Waymo Co-Chief Executive Tekedra Mawakana told Bloomberg Television last week that the state had shown interest in launching robotaxis. Even if it was outside New York City, “that gives us an opportunity to grow more fans,” she said, adding that some consumers of the service have been calling for robotaxis in the city.
“We hear from thousands of New Yorkers who have experienced Waymo in other cities and want access to it at home,” the spokesperson added. “They want the safety, privacy and comfort that riders in other major cities already enjoy.”
–With assistance from Laura Nahmias and Ed Ludlow.
(Updates with comment from New York Taxi Workers Alliance starting in the seventh paragraph.)
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