On this undated handout picture supplied by Zoox, Zoox robotaxis are assembled at a 220,000-square-foot manufacturing facility positioned in Hayward, Calif. (Zoox through AP)
[Stay on top of transportation news: Get TTNews in your inbox.]
HAYWARD, Calif. — Amazon is gearing as much as make as many as 10,000 robotaxis yearly at a sprawling plant close to Silicon Valley because it prepares to problem self-driving cab chief Waymo.
Tesla CEO Elon Musk can also be vying to hitch the autonomous race.
The 220,000-square-foot robotaxi manufacturing facility introduced June 18 heralds a brand new section in Amazon’s push right into a technological frontier that started taking form in 2009, when Waymo was launched as a secret mission inside Google.
Amazon started eyeing the market 5 years in the past when it shelled out $1.2 billion for self-driving startup Zoox, which would be the model behind a robotaxi service that plans to start transporting prospects in Las Vegas late this yr earlier than increasing into San Francisco subsequent yr.
Trip to extra locations within the Bay and LA. ✨ Beginning right this moment in SF, with new areas coming to LA later this week. Obtain the Waymo One app to see our new service areas. pic.twitter.com/delkMqkO4k
— Waymo (@Waymo) June 17, 2025
Zoox, conceived in 2014, might be making an attempt to catch as much as Waymo, which started working robotaxis in Phoenix practically 5 years in the past, then charging for rides in San Francisco in 2023 earlier than increasing into Los Angeles and Austin, Texas. Waymo says it has already greater than 10 million paid rides whereas different would-be rivals reminiscent of Amazon and Tesla are nonetheless fine-tuning their self-driving know-how whereas tackling different challenges, reminiscent of the right way to ramp up their fleet.
Amazon feels it has addressed that subject with Zoox’s manufacturing plant that spans the equal of three-and-a-half soccer fields positioned in Hayward, Calif. — about 17 miles north of a manufacturing facility the place Tesla makes among the electrical automobiles that Musk believes will ultimately be capable to function with out a driver behind the wheel.
Since transferring into the previous bus manufacturing manufacturing facility in 2023, Zoox has remodeled it right into a high-tech facility the place its boxy, gondola-like automobiles are put collectively and examined alongside a 21-station meeting line. For now, Zoox is simply making one robotaxi per day, however by subsequent yr hopes to be churning them out on the fee of three automobiles per hour.
Tesla’s robotaxi service is scheduled to roll out June 12 in Austin. (Tesla)
By 2027, Zoox hopes to creating 10,000 robotaxis yearly in Hayward for a fleet that it hopes to take into different main markets, together with Miami, Los Angeles and Atlanta. Though Zoox might be assembling its robotaxis within the U.S., about half of the elements are imported from exterior the nation, in line with firm officers.
“It’s an thrilling time to be heading on this journey,” Zoox CEO Aicha Evans mentioned throughout a June 17 tour of the robotaxi manufacturing facility that she co-hosted with Jesse Levinson, the corporate’s co-founder and chief know-how officer.
Though Zoox might be lagging properly behind, it believes it could possibly lure passengers with automobiles that look extra like carriages than vehicles with seating for as much as 4 passengers. Waymo, in distinction, builds its self-driving know-how onto vehicles made by different main automakers, making its robotaxi look just like automobiles steered by people. Zoox isn’t even bothering to place a steering wheel in its robotaxis.
Because it continues to check its robotaxis in Las Vegas, Zoox not too long ago struck a partnership to offer rides to company of Resorts World. It’s additionally nonetheless testing its robotaxis in San Francisco, the place Waymo already has turned driverless vehicles into an on a regular basis sight in a metropolis that has been famend for cable vehicles for the reason that 1870s. Whereas testing in San Francisco final month, a minor collision between a Zoox robotaxi and an individual using an electrical scooter prompted the corporate to subject a voluntary recall to replace its self-driving know-how. No accidents had been reported within the incident.
Tesla remains to be angling to compete towards Waymo too, though it stays unclear when Musk will fulfill his long-running promise to construct the world’s largest robotaxi service. Musk nonetheless hasn’t given up on the objective, although his present ambitions are extra modest than they had been in 2019, when he predicted Tesla can be operating a fleet of 1 million robotaxis by now. He’s presently aiming for a restricted rollout of Tesla robotaxis in Austin on June 22, though that date may change as a result of Musk is “being tremendous paranoid about security.”
Zoox, in distinction, is planning to function 500 to 1,000 of its robotaxis in small to medium-size markets and about 2,000 robotaxis in main cities the place it will definitely operates, in line with Evans. The corporate thinks every robotaxi produced in its Hayward plant needs to be on the highway for about 5 years, or about 500,000 miles.
Amazon.com Inc. ranks No. 1 on the TT High 100 record of the biggest logistics corporations in North America, No. 12 on the TT100 record of the biggest personal carriers and No. 1 on the High 50 International Freight record.
