A Better Road Forward for New York

From the Erie Canal to the elevator to the subway, New York has a long history of reinventing how people move. But New York has been sitting out the latest advances in transportation. Every week, autonomous vehicles (AVs) provide more than 500,000 rides across 14 American cities – but New York is stuck on the outside looking in.

Because the state doesn’t yet allow AVs on its roads, New York is falling behind the rest of the country when it comes to making our streets as safe as we know they could be, even as three in four New Yorkers agree the state should explore new technologies to reduce traffic deaths.

Today we’re launching A Better Road Forward, a statewide coalition working to make New York’s streets safer, and our neighborhoods more connected. We are a coalition of advocates, faith-based organizations, innovators, business leaders, and former public officials. We represent people of all ages, abilities, and backgrounds – upstate and downstate – who believe AVs will improve traffic safety while improving equity, liveability, and accessibility in communities of all sizes.

Safer Streets for New York Families

The status quo on New York’s roads is falling short. In 2024, crashes killed 1,090 people in New York State’s roads and more than 12,700 were seriously injured. In a typical year, around a quarter of those deaths involve alcohol, while driver distraction is one of the most common contributing factors in fatal crashes. Pedestrians are especially vulnerable to unsafe driving behaviors, representing roughly 25-30% of traffic fatalities in New York every year.

Sadly, New York has carried this burden as the cost of transportation for over a century, as America’s first pedestrian fatality occurred in Manhattan in 1899, at West 74th Street and Central Park West.

But it doesn’t have to be this way.

AVs do not text, drink, get tired, or experience road rage. In fact, the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety independently found autonomous vehicles to be involved in 68% fewer police-reported crashes, 85% fewer single-vehicle crashes, and 81% fewer injury crashes than human-driven vehicles. An independent analysis of New York’s own crash data found that AVs could have prevented more than 500 deaths and 83,000 injuries over a five-year period.

Getting New Yorkers Where They Need to Go

Many of us take getting a ride for granted - but for the 3 million New Yorkers living with a disability, it can be a gamble. People with disabilities who use service animals and mobility devices routinely face discrimination by ride-hail drivers nationwide, leading the Justice Department to file a lawsuit last year. And a survey by Guide Dogs for the Blind indicated that 83% of respondents experienced rideshare denials, leading to missed medical appointments, flights, and job interviews.

People with disabilities, older adults, and under-served communities face perpetual gaps in transportation access both upstate and downstate. Outside of New York City, the picture is bleak for people with limited transportation options who face longer distances, higher costs, and fewer backup choices when a car isn’t available. AVs present an option that shows up on your schedule and accommodate your needs, not someone else’s.

Transportation barriers present daily challenges for many New Yorkers who lack access to reliable transit, especially in less populated communities. Until this year, Jefferson County’s 116,000 residents did not have a bus service at all – and, like many other communities across the state, personal car ownership is the only way to reliably get from A to B. This is evident to New Yorkers: three in five New York adults say they’re concerned about transportation deserts in the state. The goal isn’t for AVs to replace public transit, but to give people a reliable way to reach it where it exists – and fill the gaps that it doesn’t reach.

Households that lack access to reliable transportation tend to lack access to healthy food, medicine, and other essentials. The New York State Council on Hunger and Food Policy identified transportation as one of the main barriers to food access in cities, with especially high rates of food insecurity in the Bronx (39%) and Queens (~31%). An affordable and dependable ride from an AV that doesn’t discriminate based on neighborhood, background, or disability can become a lifeline for New York families who have difficulty accessing full-service grocery stores.

Cleaner Air

Transportation is responsible for 28% of New York State’s greenhouse gas emissions, and is tied with buildings for the largest source by sector. Gas-powered, personally-owned vehicles idling in traffic and circling for parking are major contributors to these emissions. In comparison, AV fleets are all-electric, and operators are incentivized to reduce unnecessary driving. Every ride that shifts from a gas car to an electric AV will be a step toward New York’s goals for zero-emission mobility – contributing to cleaner air and quieter streets.

Jobs of the Future

New York is already betting on the jobs of the future through initiatives like Green CHIPS and the $200 million ON-RAMP Program. AVs should be part of the state’s strategy to create jobs at the cutting edge of global technology, as AV services are inherently local: every fleet needs depots, technicians, remote support staff, fleet operators, and skilled tradespeople to build the facilities and operate the service.

Beyond the jobs created by AVs are the jobs enabled by access to AVs. Transportation is one of the most important determinants of whether a person can get a job and keep it, and AVs can play a critical role in getting employees and customers to restaurants, shops, and employment centers that are underserved by ride-hail and transit today.

A Better Road Forward

Many other states have evaluated the evidence and decided to move forward with AV testing and deployment, and every year New York waits is another year of preventable deaths, missed appointments, and neighbors left behind.

We’re not asking New York’s leaders to adopt AVs on faith alone, but to look at the evidence and give New Yorkers the opportunity to choose. We want to see a future where safer, more accessible rides are available to residents across the state, with the accountability and oversight that New Yorkers expect.

If you believe in making New York’s streets safer and connecting our neighborhoods, please sign up here to join us in building a better road forward.