Alphabet’s self-driving unit Waymo has secured New York City’s first permit to test autonomous vehicles on public roads, Mayor Eric Adams announced on 22 August. The Department of Transportation authorisation allows the company to deploy up to eight Jaguar I-Pace SUVs in parts of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn through late September, with an option to extend the trial. State rules require a trained safety operator to remain behind the wheel with at least one hand on the steering wheel, and the vehicles are barred from carrying paying passengers until the company obtains a separate licence from the Taxi and Limousine Commission. Waymo must also share detailed performance data with city officials and coordinate regularly with emergency services under a safety framework introduced by the Adams administration last year, which the mayor says is among the strictest in the United States. The New York trial marks Waymo’s latest expansion beyond its commercial robotaxi operations in Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin, where it logs about 250,000 rides each week and passed 10 million cumulative trips in May. Rival Tesla is recruiting Autopilot operators in the metropolitan area but has yet to apply for a New York testing permit, underscoring the competitive stakes as companies race to prove their technology in one of the world’s most complex urban traffic environments.