September 10, 2025 • 8 mins
Waymo is sending its self-driving cars into the heart of New York City, not to launch a robotaxi service yet, but to start mapping the chaos. In this episode, we break down why Alphabet’s AV division is quietly testing in Manhattan, what this move says about its long-term strategy, and how NYC’s strict rules could shape the future of autonomous vehicles. We dig into the permit details, regulatory hurdles, and why this data grab matters even without driverless rides on the table.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:01):
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads, the Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The
Boring Company and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
Waymo is bringing its driverlesscars to New York City.
The company quietly filed a permit to start mapping the
(00:23):
streets of Manhattan in August, and it will begin testing its
autonomous vehicles in the city this fall.
This marks the first time that Alphabet Self Driving Division
is set foot in the city with itsown fleet.
Now, Waymo isn't launching a robo taxi service here, at least
not yet. These initial runs will keep a
human driver behind the wheel with no autonomous driving mode
(00:46):
activated. Still, the presence of Waymo's
white Jaguar eye paces rolling through the most congested and
chaotic traffic grid in the country.
Signal said the company is laying down the groundwork for
something much, much bigger. Wemo confirmed it's sending
vehicles to collect data throughout Manhattan.
These runs will include scenarios like driving through
(01:07):
the tunnels, over bridges and into underground parking
garages. New York presents a very dense
technical challenge most other U.S. cities can't even come
close to. Wemo is betting that mastering
New York City could help it scale elsewhere with more
confidence. And the New York City Department
of Transportation approved Waymo's permit on August 6th of
(01:29):
this year, and Waymo submitted the request under a state DMV
pilot program that allows autonomous vehicle testing with
very strict limitations. Now, this is unlike Phoenix or
San Francisco that Waymo operates in.
Now. These cars must stay in manual
mode at all times and include two trained human safety drivers
(01:50):
inside the vehicle. So this isn't Waymo's first time
in New York City, though they went in there for the permit,
but they were also upstate. It's the first time the company
will operate its own branded vehicles in the city.
In a 2021, Waymo quietly ran Lidar mapping tests using rented
(02:11):
vehicles without Waymo logos. Sneaky now.
That earlier effort made some initial geographic data
available, but this new phase brings the project into the
public Waymo branded cars. Waymo's already logged over
1,000,000 driverless miles in Phoenix in San Francisco, and
those cities allowed it to launch full autonomous ride
(02:33):
handling services with no one behind the wheel.
In contrast, New York presents ahigh friction environment filled
with unpredictable pedestrians. People do whatever they want
there. Double parked trucks, there's
deliveries all the time, people on bikes, people weaving in and
out of traffic in an endless stream of yellow cabs and Ubers
that are trying to take over theroadways.
(02:55):
The exact type of environment the current EV systems still
struggle to handle consistently.But if they can nail this, they
can defeat Tesla. The city's rules reflect the
challenge of the actual city. Any autonomous vehicle test in
the city must remain under manual control and carry 2 train
safety operators at all times. Because nobody knows what's
going to happen at any time whenyou're driving in the city.
(03:17):
It's wild. And the state DMV requires
detailed incident reports, driving logs, and real time
monitoring. These regulations limit what
Wemo can do in the short term, but they also provide a
framework for a testing lab the Wemo is doing with more edge
cases per mile than almost anywhere in the country.
So it's a condensed set of data that Waymo will be gathering by
(03:40):
going into the city. A Waymo's entry adds pressure to
other AV companies like Cruz andTesla, which have largely stayed
away from New York due to its dense trafficked and strict
regulatory setup. And unlike Cruz, which suffered
a string of high profile incidents in San Francisco, is
was suspended in California. Waymo has maintained a much
(04:01):
cleaner record with regulators. The reputation could help ease
its path into more difficult cities like New York City, or as
we call it, the city. There's also a political angle
on this move. Waymo began mapping just days
before a new congestion pricing plan was supposed to launch in
the city, which would have charged vehicles up to $15.00
(04:22):
for entering core business zones.
The plan has now been indefinitely paused by the
Governor Hochel. If congestion pricing returns,
it could reshape how ride hailing and delivery services
operate, making autonomous fleets more economically
available. Now we most expansion comes as
Alphabet looks to justify its long term bets outside of
(04:44):
advertising. They need to do other things.
They need to make that trillion dollars now.
They pour billions into way morealready over the past decade,
and while it has made technical progress, commercial success has
been kind of slow watching in the city, even in this limited
form. Let's Alphabet signal progress
in front of investors without promising an actual service
(05:05):
route anytime soon. So once they roll this out,
they're going to see an uptick in the stock because they're
going to start making money fromthese Waymo's immediately.
The MTA, which controls much of the city's transit
infrastructure, though, is not commented on Waymo's mapping
plans. To US, your city.
Department of Transfer Transportation approved the
(05:28):
mapping permit, said it fits within the state's EV testing
rules. Right now, local lawmakers have
not raised major objections yet.Like a change once the vehicles
become a visible presence on city streets.
And depending on if they run into a few bikes or, you know,
sideswipe any cars, you never know what's going to happen in
the city. So Waymo wants to operate fully
(05:50):
driverless cars in New York Cityone day.
It'll need a separate permit, and a regulatory shift from the
city has not indicated it's ready to make.
But getting the data now puts Wemo in position to move faster.
When that window opens, we MO has to be before Tesla.
It's not promising a launch datefor robotaxis in New York City
(06:11):
quite yet. It's only confirmed the data
collection is underway and that their vehicles will appear
publicly this fall. That alone marks a shift in how
the company is thinking about its national expansion.
Think about it like this. Tesla is moving out with their
automated vehicles. Waymo, the first to get into New
(06:34):
York City. This is groundbreaking for
Waymo. They get the millions of people
in the city to take Waymo's instead of Tesla's.
I know people that just don't want to be in a Tesla.
They will, you know, if they have to, but if Waymo's around,
they'll probably do it. It's very, you know, very, let's
(06:55):
see, how can I say this? You, you kind of get on a team.
We're in the city, right? And you, you know, that kind of
person. So if Waymo gets in there early,
they do a really good job. They support local businesses,
They'll support local people. You know, New York will take
care of itself. They're testing in New York
because no other city offers thesame level of technical
(07:17):
complexity. There's so many data points.
Just park in your car on the side of the street.
There's so many other cars whizzing by.
There's people on bikes, people on scooters, people on any sort
of EV. You know, there's people
whizzing around you at all times.
So all those things are technical data points.
You know? If Waymo's system can learn from
(07:39):
that environment, the company may be able to apply those
lessons across the entire network.
So this is kind of like crammingfor a test, right?
You get it in New York City, you're testing next day, and you
cram, cram, cram until the test comes up.
(08:00):
That's what they're doing with New York City.
It's a data gathering mission right now, and nothing more than
that. But if they gather the right
data, they'll be able to use their AI to interpret it and
also use it all across the nation and all across the world
eventually. Hey, thank you so much for
listening today. I really do appreciate your
(08:21):
support. If you could take a second and
hit this subscribe or the followbutton on whatever podcast
platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
appreciate it. It helps out the show
tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
support the show even more, go to patreon.com Stage Zero and
(08:45):
please take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you
tomorrow.
Hey, everybody. Welcome back to the Elon Musk
Podcast. This is a show where we discuss
the critical crossroads, the Shape, SpaceX, Tesla X, The
Boring Company and Neurolink. I'm your host, Will Walden.
Waymo is bringing its driverlesscars to New York City.
The company quietly filed a permit to start mapping the
(00:23):
streets of Manhattan in August, and it will begin testing its
autonomous vehicles in the city this fall.
This marks the first time that Alphabet Self Driving Division
is set foot in the city with itsown fleet.
Now, Waymo isn't launching a robo taxi service here, at least
not yet. These initial runs will keep a
human driver behind the wheel with no autonomous driving mode
(00:46):
activated. Still, the presence of Waymo's
white Jaguar eye paces rolling through the most congested and
chaotic traffic grid in the country.
Signal said the company is laying down the groundwork for
something much, much bigger. Wemo confirmed it's sending
vehicles to collect data throughout Manhattan.
These runs will include scenarios like driving through
(01:07):
the tunnels, over bridges and into underground parking
garages. New York presents a very dense
technical challenge most other U.S. cities can't even come
close to. Wemo is betting that mastering
New York City could help it scale elsewhere with more
confidence. And the New York City Department
of Transportation approved Waymo's permit on August 6th of
(01:29):
this year, and Waymo submitted the request under a state DMV
pilot program that allows autonomous vehicle testing with
very strict limitations. Now, this is unlike Phoenix or
San Francisco that Waymo operates in.
Now. These cars must stay in manual
mode at all times and include two trained human safety drivers
(01:50):
inside the vehicle. So this isn't Waymo's first time
in New York City, though they went in there for the permit,
but they were also upstate. It's the first time the company
will operate its own branded vehicles in the city.
In a 2021, Waymo quietly ran Lidar mapping tests using rented
(02:11):
vehicles without Waymo logos. Sneaky now.
That earlier effort made some initial geographic data
available, but this new phase brings the project into the
public Waymo branded cars. Waymo's already logged over
1,000,000 driverless miles in Phoenix in San Francisco, and
those cities allowed it to launch full autonomous ride
(02:33):
handling services with no one behind the wheel.
In contrast, New York presents ahigh friction environment filled
with unpredictable pedestrians. People do whatever they want
there. Double parked trucks, there's
deliveries all the time, people on bikes, people weaving in and
out of traffic in an endless stream of yellow cabs and Ubers
that are trying to take over theroadways.
(02:55):
The exact type of environment the current EV systems still
struggle to handle consistently.But if they can nail this, they
can defeat Tesla. The city's rules reflect the
challenge of the actual city. Any autonomous vehicle test in
the city must remain under manual control and carry 2 train
safety operators at all times. Because nobody knows what's
going to happen at any time whenyou're driving in the city.
(03:17):
It's wild. And the state DMV requires
detailed incident reports, driving logs, and real time
monitoring. These regulations limit what
Wemo can do in the short term, but they also provide a
framework for a testing lab the Wemo is doing with more edge
cases per mile than almost anywhere in the country.
So it's a condensed set of data that Waymo will be gathering by
(03:40):
going into the city. A Waymo's entry adds pressure to
other AV companies like Cruz andTesla, which have largely stayed
away from New York due to its dense trafficked and strict
regulatory setup. And unlike Cruz, which suffered
a string of high profile incidents in San Francisco, is
was suspended in California. Waymo has maintained a much
(04:01):
cleaner record with regulators. The reputation could help ease
its path into more difficult cities like New York City, or as
we call it, the city. There's also a political angle
on this move. Waymo began mapping just days
before a new congestion pricing plan was supposed to launch in
the city, which would have charged vehicles up to $15.00
(04:22):
for entering core business zones.
The plan has now been indefinitely paused by the
Governor Hochel. If congestion pricing returns,
it could reshape how ride hailing and delivery services
operate, making autonomous fleets more economically
available. Now we most expansion comes as
Alphabet looks to justify its long term bets outside of
(04:44):
advertising. They need to do other things.
They need to make that trillion dollars now.
They pour billions into way morealready over the past decade,
and while it has made technical progress, commercial success has
been kind of slow watching in the city, even in this limited
form. Let's Alphabet signal progress
in front of investors without promising an actual service
(05:05):
route anytime soon. So once they roll this out,
they're going to see an uptick in the stock because they're
going to start making money fromthese Waymo's immediately.
The MTA, which controls much of the city's transit
infrastructure, though, is not commented on Waymo's mapping
plans. To US, your city.
Department of Transfer Transportation approved the
(05:28):
mapping permit, said it fits within the state's EV testing
rules. Right now, local lawmakers have
not raised major objections yet.Like a change once the vehicles
become a visible presence on city streets.
And depending on if they run into a few bikes or, you know,
sideswipe any cars, you never know what's going to happen in
the city. So Waymo wants to operate fully
(05:50):
driverless cars in New York Cityone day.
It'll need a separate permit, and a regulatory shift from the
city has not indicated it's ready to make.
But getting the data now puts Wemo in position to move faster.
When that window opens, we MO has to be before Tesla.
It's not promising a launch datefor robotaxis in New York City
(06:11):
quite yet. It's only confirmed the data
collection is underway and that their vehicles will appear
publicly this fall. That alone marks a shift in how
the company is thinking about its national expansion.
Think about it like this. Tesla is moving out with their
automated vehicles. Waymo, the first to get into New
(06:34):
York City. This is groundbreaking for
Waymo. They get the millions of people
in the city to take Waymo's instead of Tesla's.
I know people that just don't want to be in a Tesla.
They will, you know, if they have to, but if Waymo's around,
they'll probably do it. It's very, you know, very, let's
(06:55):
see, how can I say this? You, you kind of get on a team.
We're in the city, right? And you, you know, that kind of
person. So if Waymo gets in there early,
they do a really good job. They support local businesses,
They'll support local people. You know, New York will take
care of itself. They're testing in New York
because no other city offers thesame level of technical
(07:17):
complexity. There's so many data points.
Just park in your car on the side of the street.
There's so many other cars whizzing by.
There's people on bikes, people on scooters, people on any sort
of EV. You know, there's people
whizzing around you at all times.
So all those things are technical data points.
You know? If Waymo's system can learn from
(07:39):
that environment, the company may be able to apply those
lessons across the entire network.
So this is kind of like crammingfor a test, right?
You get it in New York City, you're testing next day, and you
cram, cram, cram until the test comes up.
(08:00):
That's what they're doing with New York City.
It's a data gathering mission right now, and nothing more than
that. But if they gather the right
data, they'll be able to use their AI to interpret it and
also use it all across the nation and all across the world
eventually. Hey, thank you so much for
listening today. I really do appreciate your
(08:21):
support. If you could take a second and
hit this subscribe or the followbutton on whatever podcast
platform that you're listening on right now, I greatly
appreciate it. It helps out the show
tremendously and you'll never miss an episode.
And each episode is about 10 minutes or less to get you
caught up quickly. And please, if you want to
support the show even more, go to patreon.com Stage Zero and
(08:45):
please take care of yourselves and each other, and I'll see you
tomorrow.
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