--- title: "New York City has defeated Waymo, and the taxi lobby is the reason" url: https://daily.dev/posts/new-york-city-has-defeated-waymo-and-the-taxi-lobby-is-the-reason-8nqttqkle source_url: https://thenextweb.com/news/waymo-new-york-city-political-roadblocks-robotaxi type: article source: "The Next Web" published: 2026-06-21T10:56:38.160Z updated: 2026-06-21T10:56:56.863Z tags: ["regulation"] reading_time: 5 upvotes: 1 comments: 0 language: en --- > ## Documentation Index > Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://daily.dev/llms.txt > Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further. # New York City has defeated Waymo, and the taxi lobby is the reason **[The Next Web](https://daily.dev/sources/tnw)** · 5 min read · 1 upvotes · 0 comments ## Summary Waymo is blocked from operating in New York City despite a clean safety record during its testing period and 500,000 weekly rides across 10 other US cities. The barrier is political: Mayor Zohran Mamdani declined to renew Waymo's testing permit, Governor Hochul withdrew a statewide robotaxi legalization proposal after backlash, and the New York Taxi Workers Alliance has framed the fight as a labor rights issue. Waymo has spent $1.8 million lobbying state officials since 2019 with little effect. A recent sixth recall — after robotaxis drove into highway construction zones 13 times — has given opponents additional ammunition. NYC represents Waymo's most valuable potential market, but the patchwork regulatory environment gives local politicians effective veto power, and none of Waymo's competitors (Tesla, Zoox, GM) are in New York either, suggesting industry-wide resistance rather than Waymo-specific opposition. ## Full article daily.dev links to this article rather than hosting it. Read it at the original source: ## Similar posts on daily.dev - [New York hits the brakes on robotaxi expansion plan](https://daily.dev/posts/new-york-hits-the-brakes-on-robotaxi-expansion-plan-enwev93ab) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments - [New York governor clears path for robotaxis everywhere, with one notable exception](https://daily.dev/posts/new-york-governor-clears-path-for-robotaxis-everywhere-with-one-notable-exception-hmvvwngfo) · TechCrunch · 1 upvotes · 0 comments - [Waymo can keep testing robotaxis in NYC until end of 2025](https://daily.dev/posts/waymo-can-keep-testing-robotaxis-in-nyc-until-end-of-2025-kh39r34yv) · TechCrunch · 0 upvotes · 0 comments --- Tags: [#regulation](https://daily.dev/tags/regulation) [View this post on daily.dev](https://daily.dev/posts/new-york-city-has-defeated-waymo-and-the-taxi-lobby-is-the-reason-8nqttqkle)