{"id":139263,"date":"2026-02-19T21:43:10","date_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:43:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139263\/"},"modified":"2026-02-19T21:43:10","modified_gmt":"2026-02-19T21:43:10","slug":"new-york-governor-pulls-robotaxi-expansion-proposal-for-cities-outside-big-apple-new-york","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/139263\/","title":{"rendered":"New York governor pulls robotaxi expansion proposal for cities outside Big Apple | New York"},"content":{"rendered":"

New York\u2019<\/a>s governor, Kathy Hochul<\/a>, has pulled her proposal to allow commercial robotaxi services in smaller cities outside New York City, a spokesperson for the governor said on Thursday.<\/p>\n

\u201cBased on conversations with stakeholders, including in the legislature, it was clear that the support was not there to advance this proposal,\u201d the spokesperson said.<\/p>\n

The move comes as a setback to Alphabet\u2019s Waymo<\/a>, which received its first permit to begin testing its autonomous vehicles in New York City last year, albeit with a trained specialist behind the wheel. The permit is still in place, and Waymo\u2019s plans for New York City are still likely to move ahead, as Hochul\u2019s rescinded proposal governed areas outside the Big Apple.<\/p>\n

The Alphabet<\/a> subsidiary, which offers paid driverless rides to the public in cities in the San Francisco Bay Area, along with parts of Los Angeles, Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta and other cities, was hoping to grow its already sizable foothold in the robotaxi market and tap into a large pool of new users.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhile we are disappointed by the governor\u2019s decision, we\u2019re committed to bringing our service to New York<\/a> and will work with the state legislature to advance this issue,\u201d a Waymo spokesperson said. \u201cWe hear from thousands of New Yorkers who have experienced Waymo in other cities and want access to it at home.\u201d<\/p>\n

Self-driving operations already face a difficult path to commercialization, as the technology has been under heavy scrutiny over safety concerns after accidents, though Waymo\u2019s safety record has not recorded major injuries like General Motors\u2019 Cruise, which shut down after one of its cars dragged a woman through an intersection in San Francisco.<\/p>\n

\u201cAutonomous vehicles are already driving down accident rates and improving pedestrian safety in Arizona, California and Texas. It\u2019s disappointing that Governor Hochul is withdrawing her proposal, because New Yorkers deserve the same proven protections,\u201d Chamber of Progress\u2019s CEO, Adam Kovacevich, said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"New York\u2019s governor, Kathy Hochul, has pulled her proposal to allow commercial robotaxi services in smaller cities outside…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":139264,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[9,24,55,54,56],"class_list":{"0":"post-139263","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-city","8":"tag-new-york","9":"tag-new-york-city","10":"tag-new-york-city-headlines","11":"tag-new-york-city-news","12":"tag-ny"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139263","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=139263"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/139263\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/139264"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=139263"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=139263"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=139263"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}