Mayor Eric Adams recently announced that the city has opened applications for companies seeking permits to test their autonomous vehicles in the five boroughs.

“We announced, the other day, self‑driving cars testing. Any time you use technology, you need to put it into the real environment to iron out the kinks,” Adams said at a news briefing. “You can't live in the lab. You can't stay in the lab forever. You must be willing to say, I'm going to put it out among the real universe to iron out the next level of perfection.”

Similar programs are already being tested in cities like San Francisco, but safety concerns remain top of mind as traffic deaths are already on the rise in some parts of the city.

NY1 asked followers on social media: “Should New York City allow self-driving cars?”

Here are the results of the unofficial poll.

On X, more than 85% voted against self-driving cars, and nearly 15% voted for allowing self-driving cars.

On Instagram, 78% voted “no” and 22% voted “yes.”

Jody Kelman, the former head of Lyft Autonomous, and Adalgisa Payero, an Uber/Lyft driver and a leader with Justice for App Workers, joined “The Rush Hour” on Thursday to weigh in on how “New York is Talking” about self-driving cars. 

For more information on Lyft Autonomous, visit autonomous.lyft.com. 

For more information on Justice for App Workers, visit justiceforappworkers.org.