By Tom Gouldsbury
Gov. Kathy Hochul recently announced that the state plans to test driverless for-hire cars outside New York City. I’m a Long Island resident, and the idea of robot cars on our streets is scary. As a transportation professional with over 25 years of experience on the roadways of our communities, I know how extraordinarily unsafe a plan like this would make us.
On Long Island, our cars are how life happens. Parents, kids, commuters and seniors are on the road every day, often navigating heavy traffic, construction and unpredictable weather. Spend five minutes on the Long Island Expressway at rush hour, or near a busy school zone at the beginning or end of a school day, and it becomes clear why safety cannot be left to unproven technology.
And let’s be honest about what’s really going on here. The goal for these tech companies is New York City. Testing driverless cars just outside the city line is a sneaky way to move closer to that goal without facing the complexity, scrutiny and opposition that would come with starting in the city itself. In the meantime, Long Island is expected to carry the risks as the testing ground.
Safety is where this proposal really starts to fall apart.
Driverless cars have already stalled in traffic, blocked emergency vehicles, sped past school buses loading children and failed to handle basic roadway situations in other parts of the country. When you complicate that track record with a February snowstorm or a rainy evening rush hour here, the risks become obvious.
And these risks aren’t just on paper — driverless cars are already hurting people. Reuters reported three weeks ago that a Waymo self-driving car hit a child during morning school drop-off near an elementary school in California.
Federal regulators were investigating the incident, which raised serious questions about whether this technology can safely operate around children, parents and busy school zones. It should give every Long Island family pause.
The pressure behind the proposal to deploy more driverless cars is coming from powerful technology companies and executives like Elon Musk, who are focused on expanding their platforms and opening new markets. Their priorities are driven by growth and investors’ demands, not by the realities of Long Island roads or the safety concerns of the families who live here.
Long Islanders tend to be practical. We care about safety, accountability and systems that work. Decisions that affect our roads and neighborhoods should reflect those values, not treat our communities as a steppingstone to somewhere else.
Governor Hochul should listen to the people who live and work here and understand these roads firsthand. Long Island should not be asked to bear unfair risks so that technology companies can inch closer to New York City.
Transportation policy should put safety first. For Long Island, that means protecting our roads, our workers and the people who rely on them every day. We’re nobody’s guinea pigs.
Tom Gouldsbury is president of the Long Island Limousine Association.
