New York City sets up 'rigorous' permit process for testers of self-driving vehicles

The Adams administration is asking companies who want to test autonomous vehicles on New York City streets to apply for a city permit, but the vehicles must have a trained operator actually sitting in the driver’s seat who’s ready to take control if necessary. 

Autonomous taxicabs are also among the possibilities.

There is no estimated date for when the tests will begin, but applications opened last week, subject to “a rigorous permitting program to ensure approved applicants are ready to test their technology in the country’s most challenging urban environment safely and proficiently,” the administration said in a news release.

“Autonomous vehicles aren't just coming, they're here — they've been successfully operating across the country for years. We are doing our due diligence to get ahead of the AV revolution, and ensure that if AVs are coming, they do so within a framework that benefits New Yorkers, and creates training and good, upwardly mobile jobs in the autonomous industry,” Deputy Mayor for Operations Meera Joshi said in a news release. 

“Our streets are vibrant and energetic — and that’s a great thing, but it also means that we need to have strong guardrails and requirements in place on any sort of autonomous vehicles,” Mayor Eric Adams said in the release.

Once perfected, autonomous vehicles use computers to move about without a human operator — using maps, radar, GPS, cameras and other technology to make decisions about tasks such as the right speed, when to start and stop and how to handle obstructions like pedestrians.

The city plans to monitor how the tests are going, and companies greenlit for the project must send updates to city regulators.

“Participants in the testing program will be required to report testing data, including incidents where test drivers take control over from the AV technology, on a regular basis,” the release said.

The operation of self-driving cars has not always gone smoothly elsewhere.

Last year, driverless cars broke down in San Francisco in the middle of a busy street. In February, also in San Francisco, someone jumped onto the hood of a driverless taxi, which precipitated a crowd forming, smashing the windshield, defacing the vehicle with spray paint and setting it ablaze.

The city hopes the tests will make streets safer.

“Driver error and distraction plays an all-too-common role in traffic crashes, and autonomous vehicle technology offers potential to improve traffic safety,” Ydanis Rodriguez, the city’s transportation commissioner, said in the release.

Among the requirements for a permit: listing previous testing experience, crash history, the maximum number of vehicles, the proposed date(s), hour(s) and location(s) of the testing.

There must also be a safety plan showing operator training, how the operator will take control “in the event of failure of the autonomous vehicle technology,” as well as the plan for interacting with law enforcement personnel and first responders.

In addition to past crashes, the companies must disclose past incidents of speeding, disobeying a traffic device, such as a stoplight, stop sign, turn restriction sign or one-way street sign, failures to yield or obstructing a right of way.

Walter McClure, a spokesman for the state Department of Motor Vehicles, said the state’s first autonomous vehicle demonstration was in 2017 — by Audi of America. That demonstration was followed by one by Cadillac, “which launched the nation's first cross-country, hands-free drive from Cadillac’s global headquarters in New York City; the trip continued outside of New York and crossed 16 states and Washington, D.C., ultimately ending in California.”

Neither Nassau nor Suffolk spokesmen returned messages seeking comment about plans in those counties.

By Matthew Chayes

matthew.chayes@newsday.comchayesmatthew

Matthew Chayes, a Newsday reporter since 2007, covers New York City.