Amazon's Zoox Plans To Launch Robotaxi Service This Year

Zoox, Inc., a robotaxi company owned by Amazon.com, Inc. AMZN, plans to launch robotaxi service in Las Vegas in 2025. 

The Details: Zoox plans to offer its robotaxi service "quite soon," Zoox's co-founder and chief technology officer Jesse Levinson told CNBC. Levinson said Zoox plans to launch an "Early Rider Program" in Las Vegas in the next few months and open its autonomous vehicle ride-hailing service to the general public later this year. 

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"I don't want to imply that it'll be a commercially meaningful business this year … but it's going to be useful in terms of customers will be able to get value out of it and actually use it to go places. We're excited for that," Levinson said. 

"We've taken a pretty conservative and steady approach to scaling and rolling out, just because of the safety-critical nature," he added. 

The company was founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon in 2020 for more than $1.2 billion. Zoox's vehicles have been designed as driver-less from the start and have no steering wheel, pedals or driver's seat. The vehicles are symmetrical and bidirectional and can seat up to four passengers. 

Zoox has been testing its driver-less vehicles in Las Vegas since 2023 and began testing in San Francisco last November. Zoox has pegged San Francisco as its next expansion and Levinson said the company also has plans to expand to Miami and Austin, Texas.  

"Hopefully by the end of this decade, if you're in most of the major cities in the U.S., this will be your favorite way to get around," Levinson said.

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Image: Courtesy of Zoox, Inc.