Zoox Robotaxis Enter Public Roads in Las Vegas and San Francisco

Purpose-built robotaxis are now offering ride-hailing services in Las Vegas and San Francisco. Zoox, acquired by Amazon in 2020, deploys vehicles designed from the ground up for autonomous operation rather than adapting existing cars.

A robotaxi is not a car and has different requirements than a human-driven vehicle, according to Zoox design director Chris Stoffel. The system relies on a ring of sensors mounted on the vehicle’s frame to achieve 360-degree situational awareness, allowing the symmetrical, bidirectional design to operate identically regardless of direction.

This purpose-built approach eliminates the need for traditional hoods and enables optimized coverage that retrofitted vehicles cannot achieve. The design allows the robotaxi to crab walk effectively using its dual steering axles, providing agility tailored for on-demand service.

What to watch next is how these dedicated units perform in dense urban traffic compared with retrofitted alternatives.