Self-Driving Cars Coming To NYC Next Year, Governor Says

MANHATTAN, NY — Self-driving cars will take to the streets of Manhattan next year, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced Tuesday. GM and Cruise Automation, a technology firm the automaker owns, are applying to conduct the state's first autonomous vehicle testing in the borough starting in early 2018, Cuomo's office said.

The cars won't be unsupervised — an engineer will be behind the wheel for each test and a second person in the front passenger seat, the governor's office said. Cruise Automation has started mapping a "geofenced area" in lower Manhattan, a Cuomo spokeswoman said.

Testing the cars in New York will let Cruise "expose our software to unusual situations" in one of the nation's most densely populated areas, speeding up the process of "deploying self-driving cars at scale," company CEO Kyle Vogt said in a statement. It's not yet certain how many cars will be used in the test.

"Autonomous vehicles have the potential to save time and save lives, and we are proud to be working with GM and Cruise on the future of this exciting new technology," Cuomo said in a news release.

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The Wall Street Journal reported that Cruise is currently testing more than 100 self-driving Chevrolet Bolt cars in several cities, including San Francisco. About 10 million self-driving cars will be on the road across the U.S. by 2020, according to a Business Insider analysis published last year.

Part of this year's state budget allows companies to test autonomous driving technology in a yearlong pilot program overseen by the Department of Motor Vehicles. GM's program will be the first full-scale test of highly autonomous cars in New York State, the governor's office said. Audi and Cadillac conducted demonstrations in the state over the summer.

Tuesday's announcement about testing in New York City was news to Cuomo's political rival, Mayor Bill de Blasio, whose aides were just told about the plan Monday night, according to his spokesman.

"We have very real safety concerns," Eric Phillips, de Blasio's press secretary, told Patch in an email. "We are obviously looking forward to some detail on this idea before any cars hit the streets."

State officials first talked with the city Department of Transportation in August, a Cuomo spokswoman said. But that agency got no information "on the timing, details or testing area of a pilot" until Monday night, DOT spokesman Scott Gastel said.

"The city was first alerted to this proposal two months ago before GM started preliminary mapping. They were notified again before the announcement of plans for testing next year was made," Cuomo spokesman Rich Azzopardi said in a statement. "Now starts the permitting process with DMV when any concerns the city may have will be addressed."

(Lead image from Gov. Andrew Cuomo's office)