Waymo is getting one step closer to rides in New York City.

The Alphabet autonomous vehicle subsidiary received its first permit from the New York Department of Transportation on Friday to start testing in New York City, Mayor Eric Adams announced Friday. The rollout marks the city’s first autonomous vehicle testing launch.

Waymo will begin testing up to eight vehicles in Manhattan and Downtown Brooklyn through late September, with the potential to extend the program. Under New York state law, the company is required to have a driver behind the wheel to operate.

“We’re a tech-friendly administration and we’re always looking for innovative ways to safely move our city forward,” Adams said in a release. “New York City is proud to welcome Waymo to test this new technology in Manhattan and Brooklyn, as we know this testing is only the first step in moving our city further into the 21st century.”

The news comes just two months after the company said it filed permits to test its cars in the city with a trained specialist behind the wheel.

Waymo has hit expansion mode on its services nationwide, launching in Austin this year and expanding its San Francisco area operations in March. The company also plans to bring autonomous vehicles to Atlanta, Miami, and Washington, D.C., and recently announced operations in Philadelphia as it looks to break further into the Northeast market. In May, Waymo’s CEO said the company surpassed 10 million robotaxi trips — a milestone that underlines its lead in the U.S. driverless car race.

For years, autonomous vehicle companies have sought to introduce their technology to The Big Apple. Waymo itself previously took a crack at it in 2021, rolling out some cars in parts of the city for manual driving and data collection. The city has also signaled interest in hosting autonomous vehicle programs, with the Adams administration last year implementing a series of safety requirements for responsible testing and launching a permit program to regulate deployments.

As part of its current permit, Waymo must regularly submit data reports to the DOT and coordinate closely with law enforcement and emergency services.

Waymo’s edge over Tesla and Cruise

Waymo’s entry into New York also highlights the different paths autonomous vehicle companies are taking in the race to commercialize robotaxis. Unlike Tesla, which has pursued a vision-based system relying heavily on cameras and advanced driver-assistance under its “Full Self-Driving” (FSD) program, Waymo has doubled down on lidar and radar in addition to cameras. This sensor fusion approach provides 360-degree visibility and highly detailed 3D maps of the road, giving regulators greater confidence in its safety — a key reason behind its regulatory wins in multiple states.

Tesla is currently under federal investigation for failing to report crashes involving its partially autonomous driving technology in a timely manner.

Cruise, backed by General Motors, has also been in the spotlight, operating robotaxi fleets in San Francisco and Austin. However, its journey has been marred by safety concerns, including a high-profile accident in San Francisco that led to its permit being suspended in California last year. The setback slowed Cruise’s expansion plans and prompted greater scrutiny of its technology.

By contrast, Waymo has steadily gained approvals, bolstered by years of real-world testing and a cautious approach that emphasizes safety and compliance. The fact that it is the first to receive New York City’s blessing to put robotaxis on the road underscores its lead in the sector.

While Tesla continues to pitch a future where private cars double as robotaxis, and Cruise struggles to rebuild trust, Waymo has positioned itself as the frontrunner by proving regulators and cities can trust its lidar-powered vehicles on the nation’s busiest streets.

Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell struck a cautious but pivotal note at the annual Jackson Hole symposium on Friday, hinting that the U.S. central bank may be preparing to cut interest rates in September.

His remarks marked a turning point in monetary policy discussions, as markets quickly latched onto the possibility of easier borrowing conditions in the months ahead.

“The shifting balance of risks may warrant adjusting our policy stance,” Powell said, carefully avoiding a firm commitment but signaling the Fed’s growing concerns over a cooling job market and uneven inflationary pressures.

The Fed’s benchmark interest rate directly influences borrowing costs across the economy, including mortgages, credit cards, and business loans. Mortgage rates, in particular, tend to move in tandem with the 10-year Treasury yield, which is highly sensitive to both economic outlook and monetary policy changes.

Powell’s comments immediately rippled through financial markets. Gold prices rebounded sharply, buoyed by heightened expectations of a September cut. Spot gold rose 0.7% to $3,362.53 per ounce by 10:26 a.m. EDT (1426 GMT), while U.S. gold futures were 0.8% lower at $3,408.20. The U.S. dollar slid 0.7%, making gold cheaper for buyers using other currencies.

“In his eighth and final Jackson Hole speech, Powell surprised a worried market, opening the express lanes to a September rate cut, which has boosted every single asset, including gold,” said Tai Wong, an independent metals trader. Wong added that the real test would be whether gold can break and hold above the $3,400 threshold in the coming days.

The CME FedWatch tool showed traders now assigning a 90% chance of a 25 basis-point cut in September, up from 75% before Powell’s remarks. Markets are now hanging on to forthcoming jobs and inflation data due before the September 16–17 FOMC meeting.

Gold, which traditionally thrives in low-interest-rate environments because it carries no yield, has gained favor as investors brace for lower returns on fixed-income assets. However, physical demand in Asia remained subdued this week as price volatility discouraged retail buyers, though jewelers in India began stocking up ahead of the upcoming festival season. Spot silver gained 1.3% to $38.67 an ounce, platinum rose 0.5% to $1,359.75, and palladium firmed 1.4% to $1,126.25.

Yet behind the rallying markets, some economists argue that Powell’s pivot is more political than economic, raising concerns about the Federal Reserve’s independence. Some suggest the Fed Chair may have succumbed to intense pressure from President Trump, who has repeatedly called for steep rate cuts to spur growth.

“Powell caved. All FOMC members should be fired for not hiking rates. At least Powell admitted that our economy is weaker and inflation stronger this year under Trump than last year under Biden… Sell U.S. dollars and buy gold & foreign stocks!” said Peter Schiff, chief economist at Euro Pacific Capital.

Schiff, a longtime Fed critic, argued that the economic indices do not yet justify a cut, warning that the decision risks ushering in an era of persistent inflation and stagnant growth. He further emphasized that Powell’s pivot could be bearish for bonds, as a weaker dollar and stronger inflation will sap investor appetite for U.S. Treasuries.

“As a result, demand for Treasuries will fall just as supply rises thanks to soaring budget deficits. To control long-term rates, the Fed will revert to QE,” he added, referring to quantitative easing—a policy of large-scale bond buying that the Fed has previously relied on during financial crises.

Powell’s balancing act—acknowledging labor market risks while conceding inflation remains uncomfortably high—has set the stage for one of the most consequential FOMC meetings in years. Investors are currently betting big on a September cut, but economists remain divided as investors seek an answer to the question: is this a pragmatic response to shifting risks, or the start of a politically driven gamble that could undermine the Fed’s credibility?

The global push for artificial intelligence dominance is no longer just about algorithms or models—it has become a full-scale contest over infrastructure. That reality was underscored on Thursday when Google struck a six-year cloud computing deal with Meta Platforms worth more than $10 billion, according to a source familiar with the matter who spoke to Reuters.

The deal, Google’s second major agreement in recent months after one with OpenAI, will see Meta rely on Google Cloud’s servers, storage, networking, and other services to power its massive AI ambitions. Information first reported the news. Neither Google nor Meta immediately responded to requests for comment.

Meta’s decision comes at a time when its founder and CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, has openly acknowledged the scale of investment required to stay competitive in AI. In July, he said the company would spend “hundreds of billions of dollars” to build multiple massive AI data centers. Reflecting this commitment, Meta last month raised the lower end of its annual capital expenditure forecast by $2 billion, revising it to a range of $66 billion to $72 billion.

To ease the financial pressure of such enormous infrastructure projects, Meta has also begun seeking outside partners. Earlier this month, the company disclosed in a filing that it plans to offload $2 billion in data center assets, a move seen as both a funding strategy and a signal of just how capital-intensive AI development has become.

Meta is not alone in this race. In June, Reuters reported that OpenAI was planning to add Google Cloud services to meet its surging demand for computing power—a striking collaboration given that the two firms are also rivals in AI innovation. OpenAI’s own infrastructure costs are already substantial: Microsoft, its primary partner, disclosed last year that it invested billions into building custom supercomputers specifically tailored for OpenAI’s workloads. Analysts view this as a long-term bet that AI’s exponential growth will justify the upfront cost.

The intensifying focus on infrastructure has transformed data centers, cloud storage, and computing power into the most valuable currency of the AI era. With AI models requiring unprecedented levels of computing capacity, the race is as much about securing reliable access to energy-hungry servers as it is about pushing forward software breakthroughs.

Google itself has been reaping rewards from this surge. In July, Alphabet’s cloud-computing unit reported an almost 32% jump in second-quarter revenue, surpassing expectations—a performance many analysts attribute to the wave of AI partnerships.

The $10 billion pact with Meta further cements Google Cloud’s role at the heart of AI expansion. But more broadly, it highlights a new reality: as companies chase the promise of artificial intelligence, infrastructure investment is emerging as the single biggest—and most expensive—bet on the future.

What is emerging, analysts say, is not simply a race to build the best AI models but a scramble to dominate the unseen scaffolding of the AI economy. Trillion-dollar tech firms are pouring unprecedented sums into the belief that today’s outlays will secure tomorrow’s dominance.

The deal between Google and Meta is just the latest signpost: the AI boom is rewriting the rules of competition, where victory may ultimately be decided not by who writes the smartest code, but by who builds the biggest—and most resilient—foundations.