The Justice for App Workers coalition demands immediate action from New York lawmakers to halt testing of autonomous vehicles, before it’s too late

New York, NY – Justice for App Workers actively opposes the recent approval of Waymo driverless vehicle testing on the streets of New York City. Allowing autonomous vehicles to operate in one of the busiest, most complex urban environments in the world is reckless and deeply concerning.

New York’s streets are defined by crowded crosswalks, bike lanes, unpredictable traffic patterns, and dense neighborhoods. Introducing driverless cars into this environment puts pedestrians, cyclists, delivery workers, and other drivers at serious risk. Time and again, so-called “self-driving” technology has failed in other cities, causing crashes, injuries, and even deaths. New Yorkers must not be treated as guinea pigs for an unproven experiment that gambles with human life.

Beyond the safety risks, this decision is a direct attack on the livelihoods of hundreds of thousands of working New Yorkers. Rideshare and delivery work is how countless immigrant and working-class families in our city survive – putting food on the table and paying their bills. Replacing human drivers with robots will devastate communities, wipe out jobs, and destroy the income our families rely on.

Instead of handing our streets over to unsafe corporate experiments, city leaders should invest  in real solutions: fair pay, safe streets, and strong protections for the workers who keep New York moving every day.

Justice for App Workers calls on city and state leaders to immediately halt autonomous vehicles testing in New York City before more lives and our livelihoods are put in danger.