Gov. Kathy Hochul may be embracing self-driving cars, but downstate, residents are not quite convinced.
A new consumer survey by the Electric Vehicle Intelligence Report – a market research project started last year by Slingshot Strategies – shows that less than a third of New York City residents surveyed are interested in riding a “robotaxi.”
According to the report – which surveyed 500 people in New York City between Jan. 13 and Jan. 19 – only 32% of respondents said they would be interested in riding in an autonomous taxi. That includes 29% of respondents who had never previously ridden in a self-driving car and 3% of respondents who had.
The findings broadly fit with other national surveys the firm has completed, said Evan Roth Smith, a pollster who is also serving as EVIR’s head of research. “There’s just an intrinsic, human skepticism of driverless cars that’s pretty widespread,” he said. But exposure to autonomous vehicles seems to increase comfort with them. The group’s national surveys have shown that people are more likely to say self-driving taxis should be legal if they live in an area where the self-driving company Waymo is already operating.
Self-driving cars are not legal in either New York City or the state, though Hochul is backing a push to pave the way for legality outside of New York City this session. But Waymo is allowed to test its vehicles (with a human safety driver present) on New York City streets under a permit that was extended through March. Whether Mayor Zohran Mamdani will further extend that permit – or take any other steps to welcome self-driving cars – remains to be seen. There’s some reason to think he’ll be hesitant given concerns about the cars replacing taxi drivers, a constituency to which Mamdani is closely tied.
The EVIR survey shows that just 34% of respondents in New York City think self-driving taxis should be legal, compared to 45% who think they should be illegal. That leaves a significant bloc undecided.
