Amazon-Owned Zoox Begins Operating Driverless Robotaxi in Las Vegas

Zoox announced Tuesday (June 27) that it has been operating its driverless robotaxi in Las Vegas for two weeks.

The autonomous car — which has no steering wheel or pedals — has been transporting Zoox employees on a one-mile loop on public roads near the company’s headquarters since June 16, the Amazon-owned company said in a Tuesday blog post.

“We’ve chosen an initial route that will put our vehicle through its paces,” Zoox said in the post. “It must navigate several unprotected turns and multi-way stops — all on busy public roads with cyclists, pedestrians and cars.”

This news comes about five months after the company began operating its robotaxi in Foster City, California, according to the post.

In Las Vegas, the Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles has authorized the operation of the vehicle on public roads, and Zoox plans to expand the range in which the vehicle travels in the coming months, the post said.

The launch of the robotaxi in Las Vegas follows Zoox’s use of another test fleet in the city that has driven autonomously, but with safety drivers aboard, since 2019 to gather the data needed for the operation of other autonomous vehicles, per the post.

In time, the company aims to provide driverless rides for the public in Las Vegas, the post said.

“Deploying our robotaxi on open public roads in California and now Nevada is a big step for Zoox,” Zoox Co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Jesse Levinson said in the post. “Driving autonomously in these two unique but equally challenging locations will provide us with invaluable learnings as we fine-tune our technology in preparation for commercial launch.”

Amazon acquired Zoox in June 2020 for $1.2 billion. It was reported at the time that the eCommerce giant could use the self-driving technology company to serve the ride-hailing market or to add the technology to its delivery fleet.

The Zoox robotaxi was unveiled in December 2020, with the company reporting that the electric vehicle could operate continuously for up to 16 hours on a single charge and can drive up to 75 miles per hour.

In the deployment of the robotaxi in Las Vegas, the vehicle is operating only at speeds up to 35 miles per hour, per the blog post.