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Amazon’s robotaxis have officially hit the road, and they look like kitchen appliances.
Zoox, the company Amazon bought for $1.2 billion in 2020, started charging for rides in San Francisco and Las Vegas this month. The all-electric vehicles carry up to four passengers, and they’re the first robotaxis on public roads without a steering wheel, dashboard or pedals at all, according to the Wall Street Journal.
There are limits on where they can go. NHTSA approved Zoox to charge for rides in up to 5,000 vehicles over the next two years, but only on roads with speed limits of 45 mph or lower.
Riders admit that self-driving toasters are a little freaky. “It was exciting to witness something that seemed like science fiction,” said Med Trimidal, a retired electrical engineer who tried Zoox in June and said the lack of a driver felt disconcerting at first.
The stakes are massive. Goldman Sachs projects the robotaxi market will grow to nearly $19 billion by 2030, up from just $376 million last year. But Amazon is going up against serious competition. Waymo already runs roughly 4,000 vehicles across multiple cities, and Tesla’s Cybercab is in volume production, even without the regulatory approval Zoox has already secured.