SAN FRANCISCO, Feb 13 (Portal) – Zoox, the self-driving vehicle unit owned by Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN.O), said on Monday it had successfully tested a robotaxi with employees as passengers on a public road to get closer to it bring to commercial service to the public.
The February 11 test, conducted a mile apart between two Zoox buildings at its headquarters in Foster City, California, was part of the launch of a free employee shuttle service that will also help the company refine its technology .
“Putting the vehicle on (an) open public road and validating our approach to all the different requirements, including government regulations, is a big step and we wouldn’t have done it if we didn’t already have line of sight for one internally considered commercial use,” Chief Executive Aicha Evans told reporters on a conference call.
Evans declined to provide a commercial launch timeline, which would require additional regulatory approvals.
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The automated vehicle segment of the industry has not developed as quickly as initially anticipated as the technology has proven difficult to master. Ford Motor Co (FN) and Volkswagen AG (VOWG_p.DE) announced last fall that they were closing their Argo AI self-driving unit and focusing on driver-assistance technologies that deliver immediate returns.
Zoox, an Amazon self-driving vehicle, is seen at the company’s factory in Fremont, California, on July 19, 2022. Portal/Carlos Barria/File Photo
Companies still working to develop this technology include General Motors Co’s Cruise unit (GM.N) and Alphabet Inc’s Waymo (GOOGL.O).
Zoox’s Robotaxi – built from the ground up as a fully autonomous vehicle rather than retrofitting existing cars for self-driving – comes without a steering wheel or pedals and seats four passengers, two of whom face each other.
Online retailer Amazon, which is aggressively expanding into self-driving technology, bought Zoox for $1.3 billion in 2020.
But rapid interest rate hikes and weak consumer demand sparked fears of a global recession, forcing many companies, including automakers and tech giants, to cut workforces and recover costs.
Zoox chief technology officer Jesse Levinson said the company has been cautious about its growth but is still on track to hit 2,500 employees this year, up from just under 2,000 employees earlier in the year.
Reporting by Abhirup Roy in San Francisco Editing by Ben Klayman and Matthew Lewis
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