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(New York, NY) – A protest today outside of New York Governor Kathy Hochul’s office on 3rd Avenue in New York City. Taxi, livery and for-hire drivers gathered to demonstrate against Waymo, a company that Mayor Eric Adams recently approved a permit to test driverless cars.
Fernando Matteo, with the NYS Federation of Taxi Drivers says the subsidiary of Alphabet, Inc., the parent company of Google, will put drivers behind the wheel but they’ll still test up to 8 autonomous vehicles in parts of Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn. He feels this is the gateway to taking away thousands of jobs that taxi drivers currently perform.
“Taxi and livery drivers risk their lives every day to transport New Yorkers safely,” NYSFTD President Steven Rivera said in a statement. “Robots cannot replace human instinct, compassion or accountability.”
Waymo’s driverless rides are already up and running in cities like Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Atlanta.
