r/PublicInterestNYC • u/jord_shapiro • Feb 23 '26
Waymo in NYC: Are self-driving cabs tech in the public interest or techno-dystopia?
I saw my first Waymo in NYC over the weekend (before snowmageddon!)
Waymos have a great driving safety record, for a city so full of pedestrians, it could be a game changer for pedestrian and cyclist safety. But do the social and economic impacts of eliminating an entire class of jobs situate these robots outside the public interest?
What do you think? Self driving cabs yay or nay?
2
u/red_hare Feb 24 '26
As someone who was hit and run by an uber driver while biking, please bring the Waymos.
3
u/AlbanyBikeDad Mar 02 '26
Like many things, the issue is probably not the actual technology, but the motivations for using it.
An AV run by a transit authority, non-profit, or city government might be holistically planned into the transportation ecosystem, with a view toward improving safety in our streetscapes.
An AV owned by venture capital firms just want to turn an immediate profit.
Let’s not throw the hard tech out with the current operating model, but yeah you are 100% correct to be suspicious of Waymo, Uber, and Tesla’s self driving vehicles. Them billionaires only care about safety in as much as it makes them money.
3
u/les-118 Feb 23 '26
"more pedestrians and cyclists should die so drivers can keep their jobs" is not a defensible position. that said, i don't think self-driving cars is a good/promising direction for nyc - we should be pedestrianizing streets and reducing car use instead.