Zoox Las Vegas robotaxi service again available after multiday pause
Zoox’s Las Vegas robotaxi service is back in operations after a multiday pause in passenger rides.
Representatives from the Amazon-owned autonomous ride-hailing company did not provide specifics to the service interruption but confirmed the service was available Wednesday.
“Zoox is still a free preview service, and we will periodically make service unavailable as we conduct updates,” a Zoox spokesperson told the Review-Journal on Wednesday.
Posts about Zoox’s service being unavailable for bookings began popping up last week, with X user Chris Holmes (going by the handle @sevenssuited), noting it had been unavailable since Jan. 22.
Teri Williams, a spokeswoman with Nevada Transportation Authority, the state agency that oversees Zoox’s operations, said the temporary service halt was tied to software upgrades. Williams said service restarted Tuesday night and forwarded further questions regarding the suspension of rides to Zoox.
Zoox launched its robotaxi service in September, offering free rides to a set number of destinations including Resorts World, Topgolf, Area 15, New York-New York and Luxor. Passengers can hail rides from the set of destinations via the company’s smart phone application.
The service features Zoox’s purpose-built vehicles — which can fit up to four passengers — that don’t feature steering wheels or pedals, have four-wheel steering and are bi-directional, with the ability to travel up to 75 mph forward or backward.
Zoox has inked a number of partnership deals including with T-Mobile Arena and Sphere, with plans to serve both arenas and other destinations starting this year. Zoox’s service will eventually include a ridership fee, but that can’t occur until the robotaxi company obtains further regulatory clearance.
The company has a 190,000-square-foot Las Vegas headquarters in the southwest valley, where Zoox has based it’s area operations out of since 2019, when initial road testing began.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
