As Amazon, the world's largest e-commerce corporations, begins operating robotaxis (self-driving taxis), competition to dominate the robotaxi market in the United States is expected to heat up in earnest.
According to Bloomberg and others on the 10th (local time), Zoox, Amazon's self-driving institutional sector subsidiary, began offering free service to the general public in Las Vegas, Nevada, starting that day. When customers hail a robotaxi in a smartphone application (app), on-site staff stationed at designated points around the city will help with boarding and alighting.
Unlike other robotaxis that are converted from existing cars, Zoox's robotaxi is a fully autonomous, purpose-built vehicle with a gondola-style seating layout where four people face each other, with no steering wheel or pedals. Bloomberg said it was "the first robotaxi in the United States designed with no need for driver operation."
In Jun., Zoox opened a robotaxi factory in California with an annual production capacity of 10,000 units and is testing its systems for service in San Francisco. However, it is not yet known when it will start service in San Francisco and whether it will charge fares.
With Zoox joining in, the U.S. self-driving market has taken on a three-way battle among Google and Tesla. Google's Waymo has long operated self-driving services in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Last month, it obtained a permit to pilot self-driving cars in New York, expanding its services to the U.S. East Coast.
Tesla recently launched a self-driving service in Austin, Texas, deploying vehicles converted from the Model Y. Texas was chosen as the first launch site because regulations related to self-driving are loose. Previously, Elon Musk, Tesla's chief executive officer (CEO), said in an interview with CNBC, "We are testing thousands of autonomous cars, and we plan to operate hundreds of thousands of self-driving vehicles across the United States by the end of next year."
The federal government has also moved to support the self-driving market. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) said in Jun. that it would streamline government approval procedures for releasing self-driving cars, shortening the timeline from as long as several years to a few months. However, current federal rules limit the number of vehicles without driver controls such as a steering wheel that can be deployed on roads by any one company to below a certain level.
Bloomberg said, "It will take time for Zoox's service to expand," adding, "For this reason, it is expected to fall far short of the cap even while lawmakers review new bills related to the technology."