Tesla’s Self-Driving Future Hit By Waymo’s New York Disaster

Gov. Kathy Hochul of New York is about to completely kill a proposal to expand the use of autonomous for-hire vehicles outside New York City. The block adds to the industry’s hurdles to expand across the country. And the reasons are new, which adds another layer to Tesla’s (NASDAQ: TSLA) and Waymo’s challenges in growing.

According to The New York Times, “The retreat comes after fierce opposition from taxi drivers and labor groups, even as autonomous vehicles have become more common in cities throughout the United States.” Traditionally, the barriers to adoption are safety-related. Few saw the political issues coming. The current target of the New York challenge is Waymo. However, Waymo’s primary competition is Tesla, which has also moved from city to city to get approval for testing. And the goal of the tests is the same for both companies: to become commercially viable.

The use of these vehicles in New York City faces a similar barrier. New York Mayor Zohran Mamdani also sides with drivers. His decision stands in contrast to Waymo’s operations in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix, and Miami.

The reasons for the decision seem thin. One is the volume of traffic in the New York City area. Another is couriers. Another is bike riders. And, apparently, yet another is the danger to pigeons.

The challenge for autonomous vehicles has been safety for years. Occasionally, one gets in an accident that attracts a lot of media attention. These incidents are sometimes seen as setbacks to the safety argument.

If, now, politics from city to city and state to state becomes part of the approval process, it adds an unexpected layer of difficulty to getting autonomous vehicles used across the nation. That means Tesla and Waymo face a longer road than they expected.