Zoox, the Autonomous Driving Technology Company owned by Amazon, is preparing to start trying their vehicles in Los Angeles this summer.
The city will be the sixth test location for the company based in the Bay area, which still does not offer trips to the public.
Founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon in 2020, Zoox is one of several efforts to bring autonomous technology to the mainstream.
The Executive President of Tesla, Elon Musk, has been promoting the potential of autonomous driving for years, and Waymo, owned by the Google Alphabet parent company, is already operating a driver without driver in multiple cities, including Los Angeles, San Francisco and Phoenix.
Zoox tests in Los Angeles will lay the foundations for the future commercial service, said a company spokesman. The company plans to welcome its first public passengers in Las Vegas and San Francisco by the end of the year.
“We are going to continue advancing towards autonomous technology and it will not always be this dark enigma that is only available in some places,” said Karl Brauer, an analyst at Iseecars.com. “Amazon wants to start having technology to take advantage as capacities are implemented.”
How will Zoox tests be seen in Los Angeles?
Zoox will display a small number of Toyota Highlander test vehicles modernized in Los Angeles, all with human security drivers, the company said. The SUVs will operate in a limited area within the city, although the company has not revealed specific routes or geographical limits.
As is standard when driving in a new city, the test fleet will complete manual mapping missions to identify challenging routes and characteristics of the road specific to Los Angeles. The commercial service in the city is still far and will require regulatory approval.
“Even when technology is theoretically ready, regulations and approval processes will still be restricted,” Brauer said.
Zoox will not offer public walks in your test vehicles U operate them without a human driver, says the company's website. The company plans to eventually offer a transport service at order using specially designed autonomous vehicles without a steering wheel and bidirectional capacity.
How do Zoox vehicles work?
Zoox test vehicles are modified SUV, but the company is also developing a pill Driver without driver That is intended to be “closer to a living room on wheels than a traditional car interior,” says the Zoox website.
Robotaxis will be equipped with sensors and a type of laser -based radar called Lidar that allows them to navigate in dense urban areas, according to the company. Unlike Waymo vehicles, taxis will not have a steel driver or pedal.
The vehicles will be equipped with sliding doors and large windows, said the spokesman, and the passenger seats will face.
Are vehicles safe?
For registration:
2:28 PM April 15, 2025An earlier version of this story incorrectly declared that zoox pill robotaxis has not been tested on public roads. Robotaxis has been testing on public roads since 2023 in San Francisco, Foster City and Las Vegas.
Zoox vehicles are built for Avoid collisions And protect passengers in case of an inevitable accident, says the company's website. Vehicles have more than 100 safety innovations that do not exist in traditional cars, according to the company.
Pill robotaxis is not yet ready for commercial service, but they have been testing on public roads in San Francisco, Foster City and Las Vegas since 2023.
The data suggests that automated driving could be safer than traditional driving. The insurer Swiss Re discovered that Waymo vehicles are safer than those with human drivers, but Zoox technology is not identical.
Both teslas in the complete self -control mode and the Waymo vehicles that work without a driver have been involved in accidents and collisions, generating doubts about the safety of autonomous driving technology. Waymo customers have reported several technical problems on social networks, including a Reddit user who published a video of a waymo that leads the wrong address to approaching traffic.
According to the data collected by Waymo, their driver without 81% less airbag display accidents, 78% less accidents that cause injuries and 62% less accidents informed by the police than the traditional vehicles that drive the same distance.
What does Amazon plan to do with autonomous driving technology?
Amazon acquired Zox five years ago as a subsidiary of absolute property for more than $ 1.2 billion.
Zoox aims to launch a commercial transport service similar to Uber and Lyft that is based on its specially designed bidirectional vehicles. But Amazon can have other ideas for the future of autonomous driving, said Brauer. The electronic commerce giant could use vehicles without driver to deliver, for example, save money and resources.
“Autonomous technology is a massive change, and if you are a company like Amazon, you must participate in it as quickly as possible,” said Brauer. “Either in motion of people or load or other things that we cannot even conceive, Amazon does not want to be trapped flat.”
