Most crucially for New York residents hoping to catch a driver-supervised autonomous lift, sorry. Waymo is free to test its autonomy technology in the city, but Taxi and Limousine Commission rules in the city prohibit the use of autonomous vehicles in for-hire services.

NEW YORK (AP) — New York City is allowing the robotaxi company Waymo to test a few of its autonomous vehicles in Manhattan and downtown Brooklyn, officials said Friday as the technology picks up in popularity in other metro areas.

The cars will have a trained specialist behind the wheel as Waymo starts testing them in parts of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Waymo is largely considered the gold standard for autonomous ride-share services, offering computer-piloted -rides in five of the largest cities in the U.S—and, generally speaking, doing so in a reliable and safe manner. Now, the Mountain View, California-based company is one step closer to expanding into its biggest city yet: New York, New York.

It's the first permit of its kind, and a crucial step along the path toward launching a true robotaxi service in the Big Apple.

The self-driving car company received a permit to begin testing a limited number of autonomous vehicles in parts of Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn.