NEW YORK — Waymo has grown from a small, tightly controlled experiment in autonomous driving into the country’s most extensive robotaxi operation, ferrying riders in urban centers from Los Angeles to Miami.
But one city stands to determine whether it can ever go mainstream.
Cracking New York City would be a watershed moment for autonomous vehicles, signaling they can win approval not just in cities with more receptive political climates, but in the country’s most crowded and closely regulated transportation ecosystem. Waymo is trying to win that fight through a big-dollar lobbying campaign targeting Albany and City Hall, betting that persuasion — not disruption — is the path to mainstream adoption. The effort gained new urgency this month, after Gov. Kathy Hochul proposed allowing limited autonomous-vehicle deployments elsewhere in New York. Legislation in Albany would also permit broader expansion of robotaxis upstate, while leaving their fate in the country’s largest city largely in the hands of local policymakers…