Amazon's subsidiary Zoox will launch autonomous taxis in Austin and Miami later this year.

Key Takeaways

• Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary, is preparing to launch an autonomous taxi service in Austin and Miami later this year.
• This is the latest expansion move by the autonomous driving company, which last year opened up limited public trial rides in parts of Las Vegas and San Francisco.
• Zoox has not yet launched a paid service, but its CEO, Aicha Evans, said that once regulatory approval is granted, the company can start charging at any time.

Wednesday, December 4, 2024, in San Francisco, California, United States: a Zoox autonomous taxi on the street. Zoox, an Amazon subsidiary, has begun testing its electric autonomous taxis in the South Market area of San Francisco.

On Tuesday, Zoox, Amazon’s autonomous driving unit, announced that it plans to roll out an autonomous taxi service to some members of the public in Austin and Miami later this year.

Zoox is about to deploy its autonomous taxis—designed to look like a toaster, with no steering wheel and no pedals—within small-area zones in the two cities for testing. In the initial phase, trips will be open only to Zoox employees and their friends and family, after which the “Explorer Program” will be launched, allowing the public to join a queue and wait to experience rides.

Over the past year, the company has gradually opened up autonomous taxi trial rides to the public.

Zoox was acquired by Amazon in 2020, and last year began offering free driverless rides along the Las Vegas Strip and in parts of San Francisco. As of late March, the company said it had served 350,000 passengers, with around 500,000 people on the waiting list for programs such as the Explorer Program.

Zoox is ramping up efforts to catch up with the leading player in the U.S. autonomous taxi industry—Waymo, a unit of Alphabet, Google’s parent company. Waymo currently provides 400,000 paid rides per week across six metropolitan areas in the U.S., has launched commercial operations in 10 cities nationwide, and plans to expand this year to London and Tokyo.

In Tuesday’s announcement, Zoox also said it is expanding the scope of its services in San Francisco and Las Vegas.

This expansion will add TK square miles of service area in San Francisco, including the Marina District, North Beach, Chinatown, the Pacific Heights community, and the area around Embarcadero. Previously, its service was limited to the city’s South Market area, Mission District, and SoMa.

In Las Vegas, Zoox said it expects to begin providing event shuttles later this spring at high-traffic venues such as the Sphere stadium and the T-Mobile Arena, and plans to open passenger routes to Harry Reid International Airport within the coming months.

The company is currently testing autonomous driving technology in 10 cities across the United States. In an interview, CEO Aicha Evans said Zoox’s autonomous taxis will soon hit the streets of Atlanta and Los Angeles, and its modified Toyota Highlanders have been collecting data there since last year.

Zoox’s biggest obstacles remain launching a paid service and producing enough vehicles to meet ride demand. The company is waiting for approval from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to allow it to deploy up to 2,500 autonomous vehicles on public roads for commercial operations.

The agency launched a 30-day public comment period on March 10, after which it will publish its approval decision regarding Zoox’s application.

“We’re ready to move into a charging model—especially in Las Vegas, since we’ve been operating there for a long time.” Evans said.

Earlier this month, Zoox reached a partnership with Uber, planning to integrate its autonomous taxi service into Uber’s ride-hailing app starting this summer. Uber has partnered with a number of autonomous taxi companies, including Waymo, to seize early opportunities in the increasingly expanding autonomous vehicle market.

Evans said the company hopes to “gain a lot of experience” from its partnership with Uber, but she added that “in the foreseeable future,” Zoox’s own app will remain the primary way to request its vehicles. She declined to disclose what percentage of the fleet is connected via the ride-hailing partner.

“It’s been a long journey. We’ve been deeply involved in this field for 12 years—always steadfast, driven, and persistent.” Evans said, “You can’t just wake up one day and have millions of autonomous taxis everywhere on the streets.”

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责任编辑：郭明煜