Waymo, the Alphabet-owned autonomous driving company, launched two “road trips” on Monday to explore expanding its services into Northeastern cities. These trips mark another step in Waymo’s ongoing efforts to map and test new urban environments for its self-driving technology.
Waymo’s road trips typically involve sending a small fleet of vehicles equipped with its autonomous system, but driven by humans, to gather data and map the city. This helps the company improve its AI driver before any commercial launch. Earlier this year, Waymo conducted similar trips in cities like Houston, Orlando, Las Vegas, San Diego, and San Antonio.
In 2023, a road trip to Santa Monica eventually led to a commercial launch in the Los Angeles area, covering neighborhoods like Beverly Hills and Hollywood.
Philadelphia and New York City Plans
For Philadelphia, Waymo plans to test its vehicles in some of the city’s most challenging areas, including downtown and freeway routes. Residents can expect to see Waymo cars driving throughout various neighborhoods such as North Central, Eastwick, University City, and near the Delaware River.
In New York City, Waymo will manually drive its vehicles around Manhattan, from just north of Central Park down to The Battery, as well as parts of Downtown Brooklyn. It will also map locations in Jersey City and Hoboken, New Jersey. Waymo applied last month for permission to test autonomous vehicles with a human safety driver in New York but has not yet received approval.
This is not Waymo’s first presence in New York. It began mapping parts of Manhattan and New Jersey with a small fleet in late 2021 and conducted winter testing in Buffalo earlier this year.
Even if Waymo secures permission to operate autonomous vehicles in NYC with a safety driver, the city’s current laws prohibit driverless cars without a human occupant. Waymo is actively advocating for changes to these regulations, but commercial deployment without a driver remains a long-term goal.
Waymo continues to operate commercial robotaxi services in Atlanta, Austin, the Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. The company plans to launch services in Miami later this year and in Washington, D.C., by 2026.
What The Author Thinks
Waymo’s expanding road trips highlight the complex path autonomous vehicles face—not just technical challenges but regulatory hurdles as well. Testing in diverse urban environments is crucial, but without clear legal frameworks, widespread adoption will remain slow. The company’s strategy to balance cautious data collection with aggressive advocacy seems wise for now, signaling a gradual but steady drive toward mainstream driverless transport.
Featured image credit: Wikimedia Commons
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