Zoox is stretching out its legs. The Amazon-owned robotaxi today announced that it’s gearing up to expand its service in San Francisco and Las Vegas, while also eyeing two additional cities — Austin and Miami — for future service.
Zoox, which is one of the few companies to use a purpose-built autonomous vehicle without traditional driving controls, said it has driven nearly two million driverless miles and ferried approximately 350,000 passengers since launching its customer service last year. Zoox doesn’t charge for its robotaxi trips, as it’s only approved to operate its custom-built vehicle on public roads under a “demonstration exemption” from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Zoox’s robotaxis are fully driverless insofar as they lack traditional controls like pedals and steering wheels. Instead, the interior of the vehicle features bench seats positioned on either side, so passengers face each other while they ride. The exterior is covered in sensors, including cameras, lidar, and radar, and the vehicles typically don’t exceed 45 mph when in operation.
Zoox said it’s introducing an updated ETA feature to its app “to improve precision, along with pre-booking estimates that give riders a clearer picture of their journey before they commit.” Two additional features include “Find My Zoox,” which helps riders identify their robotaxi at busy locations, add “ZooxCast” bluetooth capabilities for more personalized audio options.
In Las Vegas, Zoox is adding to its list of approved pickup and drop-off locations. Currently, the company only serves a handful of destinations, including Resort World Las Vegas, AREA15, Topgolf, New York New York, and the Luxor. Now, Zoox is adding the Las Vegas Convention Center and a majority of the major hotels along the Strip. And it will soon tackle high-traffic areas like the Sphere and T-Mobile Arena.
And in San Francisco, the company is quadrupling the size of its service area to include the eastern half of the city. Neighborhoods such as the Marina, North Beach, and Chinatown, as well as Pacific Heights, and along the Embarcadero, will soon see more Zoox activity.
As for its new markets of Austin and Miami, Zoox says it will start in small sections of each city and limit trips to only employees and their family and friends. Eventually it will open up its service to people on its waitlist. Zoox says over half a million people have signed on to ride in its vehicles.