It's the Brian Lair Show on WNYC. I'm Bridget Bergen, senior reporter in the WNYC and Gothamist Newsroom sitting in for Brian today.

Ready or not, here they come. The city has approved the company

Waymo's application to test its driverless cars in Manhattan in downtown Brooklyn. To find out about

this test its ultimate goal and what it might mean for everyone else on the road, especially taxi and

ride share drivers, let's hear from my colleague Stephen Nesson,

transportation reporter for WNYC and Gothamist.

Hey, Stephen.

Hi, Bridget.

So, Stephen, let's start with what is Waymo's goal here?

Do they want to eventually be able to sell in the city?

Are they a ride share company with no drivers or a

delivery service? What's their plan here? It's a good question. Yes, they are a fully autonomous

taxi service. So, you know, looking to the other cities where they operate as maybe a

model or, you know, an indication of what's to come here in New York

City. They do operate in several U.S. cities, most notably, I suppose, Los Angeles, San Francisco.

They do operate in parts of Atlanta and Austin, Texas as well. Although it's interesting in

Austin, it's actually a partnership with Uber, where Uber sort

of runs the service and Waymo provides the vehicles.

They do provide Jaguars, electric Jaguars, which is very interesting.

Yeah.

So ultimately, yes, they are a taxi service. I should also note that in one of the cities, I believe in Phoenix where they operate, which is where they first launched as well, people who order food with Uber Eats can now get it delivered by a fully autonomous vehicle. So get your food delivered by robots, so to

speak. I mean, why? Why would someone want a robot to deliver their food as opposed to a person

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