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Zoox Gets Greenlight For Paid Rides
Courtesy of Zoox
Zoox, the robotaxi service owned by Amazon, can now charge customers for autonomous rides.
Why It Hits: There are an increasing number of robotaxis on the road, but none are specially built for autonomous driving or lack typical controls like brakes and a steering wheel. With Zoox ready for primetime, it could revolutionize what cars on the road look like.
Between The Trips: Watch out, Waymo. Zoox is pulling into your lane.
After ferrying half a million passengers for free in Las Vegas and San Francisco, Zoox is set to launch a paid service in Vegas next month.
The company’s California-made EVs feature sliding doors, two rows of seats, and a top speed of 75 miles per hour.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration is keeping a tight leash on the service — Zoox is only allowed to deploy 2,500 robotaxis per year for the next two years.
Additionally, the NHTSA has to create an “oversight structure” to monitor Zoox’s tech — no one wants these cars disrupting emergency services.
Final Route: With the paid service, Zoox is definitely playing the AV guinea pig with the NHTSA. The company is working with the agency to help “develop new vehicle safety standards that will create the first-ever national regulatory standards for AVs,” according to WSJ. That would supersede the patchwork of state and local laws, allowing AVs to reliably drive from city to city and state to state.
That will prove necessary if other AV hopefuls like Waymo’s Ojai and Tesla’s Cybercab hope to follow Zoox’s lead. No pressure.
The Future: Expect TV networks, film studios, and even gaming giants to fight over the exclusive rights to put their content inside Zooxes — it’ll be the driving equivalent of in-flight entertainment.
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