Zoox Expanding Operations for Second Time in March

Michael Strong
by Michael Strong

If you’re hoping to get a ride in one of the toaster-style robotaxis from Zoox, the odds are about to improve as the company’s announced it will expand its operations in four cities: San Francisco, Las Vegas, Austin and Miami. 


The announcement comes just a day after General Motors outlined its plans to begin testing its AI-based “eyes-off” variant of Super Cruise. Testing begins in Detroit and San Fracisco using specially equipped Cadillac Escalade IQ SUVs. They’re joined by several companies in various stages of autonomous technology development, including Waymo, Tesla, Nuro, Aurora Innovation, Motional, to name a few.

This marks the second time this month, the Amazon-owned company has revealed plans to expand. On March 9, it said it will establish its first fleet of vehicles in Phoenix and was adding a fleet in Dallas.

“This expansion marks a significant step forward for Zoox and is driven by the insights from our early deployments,” said Aicha Evans, CEO, in a statement. “This is our year of growth. We are actively implementing learnings to confidently and safely scale our robotaxi service across the country and bring our differentiated experience to even more riders.”

Zoox plans to expand service fourfold in San Francisco, providing coverage to a large section of the eastern half of the city. In Las Vegas, it’s doubling the number of locations to get service, including the Las Vegas Convention Center as well as most hotels on the Las Vegas Strip. In Vegas, the company is beginning shift from retrofitted vehicles to its toaster-on-wheels vehicles.

Like Las Vegas, Austin and Miami have been testing retrofitted vehicles and will begin the shift to Zoox’s purpose-built model, which doesn’t have any driver controls, but can carry up to six people at one time. Those vehicles will arrive in small numbers with Zoox employees and their families getting the first experiences. The size and coverage area will grow as the new models pass certain milestones, the company noted.

The Zoox robocabs cater to tech-savvy ride-share users. That starts with needing to use the app to secure a ride to the ZooxCast which allows riders to connect their Bluetooth-enabled devices to stream audio the vehicle. 

Other improvements to the toaster, include “Find My Zoox,” a feature where the robotaxi uses distinct lighting and sound cues to help riders identify their specific robotaxi in crowded pickup zones.


[Images: Zoox]


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Michael Strong
Michael Strong

Michael Strong has spent more than 25 years writing about the automotive industry. A Detroit-area native, he’s written about everything from local car shows to product reviews to financial news. Currently he writes and edits for a variety of national and local publications. He’s also a longtime member of the Automotive Press Association and the International Motor Press Association, and a graduate of Georgia Southern University. Hail Southern! Despite a love for ’70s land yachts and BMWs from the late ’80s and early ’90s, his personal vehicle is neither of those.

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  • Vid169489471 The technology exists today to produce a variable color temperature (kelvin) LED lamp. It can vary from 2700k that soft orange look to 6500k the bright daylight with the bluish tint.Since everything in a late model car is computer controlled, it would be an easy task to write a few lines of code that enables your vehicle to not only dim down from hi to low beam but to shift color temp down to the 2700k range for oncoming traffic, then back up to 5000k once oncoming traffic has passed. For the operator it would be automatic and seamless. For older cars they could be retrofitted with LEDs that are 2700k on low beam and 5000k on hi beam. As far as standards, there could be a lumens max, and a minimum. Several States already have minimum lumen standards going back to the old incandescent bulbs. Why not update these to national standards.
  • Jam169859557 More regulation is needed for ALL vehicle lighting systems. [list=1][*]The lighting that is most blinding are the rapidly flashing red, blue and amber lights on emergency vehicles. The lights themselves are blinding, flashing so rapidly that it's impossible for even the sharpest eyes to adjust. What's worse, is the nature of the emergency requires a careful view of the area surrounding the emergency vehicle. There is something going on that needs to be seen. More flashing lights is not the solution.[/*][*]Brighter headlights need to be regulated. The tall riding vehicles do not need headlights positioned so high that they blind drivers in lower riding vehicles. And those heasdlights need to be aimed properly. When I first started driving my 2020 Subaru Outback, many drivers would flash their lights, hoping I would dim my lights. This stopped after I performed am easy adjustment that tilted the beam lower. Late model Subaru headlamps are designed with a sharp cutoff that project less glare above the hood line. When the headlights are properly aimed, other drivers are not blinded by the beam.[/*][*]Customized light assemblies make it more difficult to see the marker lights (tail lamps, turn signals and side marker lamps) that have been tinted. There are many municiple codes that prohibit this tinting, but these laws are seldom enforced.[/*][/list=1]Solutions: Tight controls on emergency vehicle lighting. In trying to make these vehicles more visible, a dangerous side effect is reducing the ability of drivers to see the surrounding perils.Headlight design regulations that reduce the height of the headlight assemblies. Just because a pickup truck has a hood that sits 4 feet abouve the pavement, it does not mean the headlights need to be so high. Owneres should maintain proper adjustments to their vehicle headlights.Establish and enforce regulation requiring a illumination standard be followed.
  • Stl170698708 as someone who hates big government, and their interference;but you can add me to the list of people that are blinded by the lights.unfortunately "the poop is out of the horse and no way is it going back in"They have had 5 years to make lights bigger, badder and brighter because in the vehicle work it is go big or go home!Trucks are the worst because so many people use them to express their dominance and that is big, big, big $$ both at the Original Purchase and in the Aftermarket world.If, we are so lucky to get some good government regulation on this it will also take some very good Court enforcement to get the aftermarket people with fines and lawsuits.Much like the EPA did with the Diesel Tuner Industry that felt emission regulations didn't apply to them.This is from someone that owns said pickup truck with the same bright headlights,but i only use the truck when I have too and always turn off the Fog lights when driving in traffic.
  • Art65765977 I saw a porsche 911 with the most amazing headlights from behind approaching the Sunshine skyway in Florida. The pattern was 108 degrees across sweeping the road like a broom. My brother and I were amazed. I don't know what it looked like from the front but i am sure it was better than American cars
  • Master Baiter This is what happens when you take a chance on a startup auto company. Designing and building cars is hard.
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