TL;DR
Waymo was shut down by Mayor Mamdani of New York, the taxi lobby and unions. Governor Hochul withdrew his statewide robotaxi proposal after the outcry.
Waymo provides more than 500,000 paid rides per week in 10 U.S. cities, raised $16 billion in February and is expanding internationally into Tokyo and London. Cannot operate in New York.
The reason is not technical, but political.
As the New York Times reported this week, opposition from local politicians, labor unions and the influential taxi lobby has blocked the Google-owned robotaxi company’s entry into the nation’s largest and most lucrative car market. Roadblocks are structural, not temporary.
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New York Gov. Cathy Hochul introduced a budget proposal in January that would legalize commercial drone pilots in New York state, with the exception of New York City. A month later, he took it back. The pushback from rider groups, transit workers and state lawmakers was immediate and overwhelming.
“Based on conversations with stakeholders, including the Legislature, it was clear that there was a lack of support for moving forward with this proposal.The governor’s spokesman told CNBC. The reversal killed Waymo’s most promising regulatory path to the New York market.
Zohran Mamdani, the newly elected mayor of New York, announced his position. Mamdani, who went on hunger strike with taxi workers during his previous political career, refused to renew Waymo’s trial permit, which expired on March 31. The permit, approved by former mayor Eric Adams in August 2025, allowed Waymo to test drive Brohettan and Brooklyn-downtown in eight Jaguar I-PACE vehicles.
According to the New York Department of Transportation, no crashes were reported during the entire trial period. This fact did not change political calculations.
“Our strategy is the same,Justin Kintz, Waymo’s head of global public policy, told the New York Times.We want to meet people and governments where they are.“
“We know some will take longer than others,Kintz added.But we are committed to earning trust.“
The company has spent at least $1.8 million lobbying New York state officials since 2019, according to state records, and recently hired The Parkside Group for $15,000 a month to lobby for autonomous vehicle legislation. Money didn’t move the needle.
The standoff reflects broader tensions in the robotics industry. Waymo must approach each state and city individually for operating permits, a patchwork regulatory environment that gives local politicians effective veto power. Legislation has stalled in at least eight states, including New York, Virginia, Oregon and Minnesota, even as 18 states now allow fully driverless commercial operations.
Waymo’s technical record in New York was clean, but its broader safety record is more complicated. The company issued its sixth recall this week after Robotaxis entered highway construction zones 13 times across Phoenix and the San Francisco Bay Area.
One rider told CBS News they thought they were going to die. Waymo offered three free rides worth up to $40 each.
The recall case gives ammunition to Waymo’s rivals in New York. New York Magazine argued that what could turn back opposition from the Mamdani administration would be evidence beyond the company’s own statistics that the cars are safe. This is difficult to demonstrate when the company simultaneously pulls its fleet off highways because the software can’t reliably detect cones and closure signs.
The economic stakes are enormous. Waymo is introducing a new, cheaper Ojai robotaxi and is targeting one million weekly rides by the end of 2026, with plans for more than 20 additional cities, including international markets. New York City, which employs more than 100,000 for-hire drivers and whose taxi industry rakes in billions annually, would be its single most valuable market.
But the city’s taxi medallion system was already on the verge of collapse a decade ago when Uber and Lyft slashed the cost of medallions from $1 million to $200,000. Taxi drivers who have come out of this crisis are not interested in another delay. The New York Taxi Workers Alliance, which represents about 28,000 drivers, has framed the fight against robot taxis as a labor rights issue.
The competitive landscape is changing around Waymo in the meantime. GM is rebuilding its autonomous vehicle program after closing its $10 billion Cruise division. Tesla has launched a limited robot taxi service in Austin, while Amazon’s Zoox has operations in San Francisco and Las Vegas.
None of them are in New York, which suggests that the city’s resistance is not unique to Waymo, but industry-wide.
For now, Waymo’s $16 billion war chest and 500,000 weekly rides haven’t gained access to a market that matters most. The company’s strategy of patience and lobbying may eventually work, but in a city where taxi drivers have political allies in City Hall, the state legislature and the labor movement, “finally” could be years away.
