Zoox has had a permit to test driverless cars since September 2020. California added the purpose-built robotaxi to that permit.
Amazon.com Inc. owns the self-driving company Zoox Inc. For the first time, its fully autonomous vehicle took people on public roads.
The electric vehicle, which doesn’t have a steering wheel, took staff from Zoox’s two main buildings in Foster City, California, one mile away last week, according to a statement from the company. The company will now run a shuttle for employees who are making the same trip while it looks for more permissions to serve the public.
The company said that the robotaxi ride was the first time that a vehicle built without human controls took people on a public road.
Zoox has had a permit to test driverless cars since September 2020. California added the purpose-built robotaxi to that permit. Zoox has only been able to test on public roads with a fleet of gas-powered cars that have been modified to have sensors that power the self-driving technology.
Zoox, which Amazon bought in 2020 for an undisclosed amount, is in a race with other startups, such as Cruise from General Motors Co., to get robotaxis on the road. At the same time, the technology is getting more attention because of safety concerns.
The California Department of Motor Vehicles gave Cruise permission on February 3 to test its own Origin shuttle on the state’s public roads. They haven’t done it yet.
The Zoox robotaxi doesn’t have traditional controls or pedals. Instead, it has two rows of seats that face each other and can hold up to four people. On the route to Foster City, it will go as fast as 35 miles per hour. At the end of 2020, Zoox showed off its robotaxi and has been testing it at its own facility.
Bimal Mardi is a Professional Content Writer. He works in First Santal Broadcast Network TV/ News channel in India. Bimal Mardi writes about Technology, Education and Tech Product Reviews
