The move is part of a broader trend of U.S. cities and states gradually opening their roads to autonomous vehicles.

Livery drivers with the New York State Federation of Taxi Drivers rallied outside Gov. Hochul’s midtown office on Monday, calling for an end to the city’s testing of driverless taxi

The city granted autonomous car company Waymo a permit to begin testing eight autonomous vehicles (AV) in parts of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn. The permit requires to have a trained AV-specialist behind the wheel at all times.