Zoox launches its Las Vegas robotaxi service. Here’s how you can ride for free

Zoox has launched a limited Las Vegas commercial robotaxi service following years of testing autonomous vehicle technology in the city.

The Amazon-owned company kicked its autonomous ride hailing service on Wednesday, opening the service free of charge, with rides allowed from five popular locations, including Resorts World, Topgolf, New York-New York, Luxor and Area 15.

Zoox says the launch makes it the first company in history to provide a ride-hailing service in purpose-built robotaxis.

“It’s the very first version of our point-to-point ride hailing in a Zoox’s robotaxi,” Jesse Levinson, co-founder and chief technology officer of Zoox told the Review-Journal.

Initial launch

Rides can be ordered through Zoox’s smartphone app, where riders can choose to be picked up and dropped off at one of the five active locations.

At launch Zoox has a fleet of “a few dozen” robotaxis on the road, according to Levinson, with more to be added as the company increases its station lineup.

Plans call for Zoox to gradually add more destinations on a rolling basis, with the ultimate goal of having a free-flowing ride-hailing operation similar to that of Lyft and Uber.

“We’re going to be adding a bunch more (stops) later this year and lots more early next year and expanding from there,” Levinson said. “We haven’t announced specific pricing, but we expect it to be competitive with other ride hailing options.”

Years of testing

Zoox has been conducting autonomous driving operations in Las Vegas since 2019 and is based at a 190,000-square-foot headquarters in the southwest Las Vegas Valley. Testing began with retrofitted self-driving Toyota Highlander vehicles with a safety driver in place to gather data while traveling around the Las Vegas Valley.

Zoox has since added specially built four-seat pods that operate without a driver, and those are now being used by the ride-hailing company for rides.

The vehicles, which lack a steering wheel or pedals, are bi-directional with the ability to reach speeds of up to 75 mph going forward or backward. The Zoox vehicles feature four-wheel steering, also known as crab steering, sliding doors, onboard computer systems, various sensors and cameras and have been tested on Las Vegas roads since June 2023.

“There’s no driver and it’s autonomous,” Levinson said. “Basically you have two seats facing two seats, so it’s much more comfortable. Even though the vehicle is quite small itself on the exterior, the interior is extremely roomy and spacious, so you have way more room to relax and enjoy. You can hang out with your friends and family and be able to actually see them and enjoy a nice conversation.”

Each robotaxi has rider controllable music and temperature settings, along with wireless charging and USB-C charging ports.

Safety key

In April, a Zoox pod was involved in a minor crash in Las Vegas, marking the only on-road incident on record involving its purpose-built vehicles. The crash resulted in the voluntary recall of 270 of Zoox’s autonomous vehicles and the brief pause of self-driving operations in Las Vegas.

A police report was not filed related to the incident, according to the Metropolitan Police Department.

Each robotaxi analyzes its surroundings multiple times every second, accounting for all vehicles, pedestrians and objects in the area at a given time, Levinson said. Unlike a human driver who can only look in one direction at time when surveying the road, a Zoox robotaxi has 360-degree vision of the road at all times, providing for a safe ride.

“We’ve driven many of hundreds of thousands of miles here in Las Vegas with these robotaxis, plus millions of more miles with our test vehicles (Highlanders), so putting that all together is millions of miles,” Levinson said.

“We’ve done even more than that in simulations, which means we digitally simulate all kinds of scenarios including emergency situations, dangerous stuff that you hope to never experience. You put all of that together and train our AI system and validate our AI system on all of that. So by now when we are opening it up to the public, it’s been through so much, it’s able to drive significantly more safely than a human driver, in the places we are allowed to drive.”

Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.