Zoox Custom Robotaxis Are Finally Coming To San Francisco, Las Vegas (techcrunch.com) 15
Zoox, an Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company, is set to roll out dozens of its purpose-built robotaxis in San Francisco and Las Vegas, starting with employee rides in San Francisco's SoMa neighborhood and the Las Vegas Strip. "We have achieved that internal safety readiness" required to launch the service, said co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson on the TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 stage. TechCrunch reports: The announcement comes a decade after Zoox was founded and four years since it was acquired by Amazon and unveiled its purpose-built robotaxi. In that time, the nascent autonomous vehicle industry has gone through the full hype cycle that led to multi-billion-dollar valuations and later a wave of shutdowns and consolidation. "We still exist," Levinson said, in a nod to the tumult the industry has gone through in recent years.
Levinson said Zoox is going to take a "measured approach" to rolling out its robotaxi service, and noted that his company has been working closely with local and federal safety regulators. "I can say that in the next few weeks, we're actually going to have a couple dozen Zoox robotaxis across our Foster City, San Francisco and Las Vegas, geofences that will expand several fold over the next year," he said. "And then, you know, 2026 is when we're going to really start cranking out production vehicles at very large scale."
He also said Zoox will launch an "explorer" program of early riders who will be able to use the robotaxis for free before opening the service up to paying customers. (Rival Waymo operated a similar invite-only early rider program before opening its service to the paying public.) These early riders, or explorers, will gain access to the Zoox vehicles early next year starting with Las Vegas, Levinson said. The Zoox AVs will operate throughout the "most busy 16 hours" of the day, Levinson said, noting that it's "so boring at four in the morning, we don't think we would learn very much."
Levinson said Zoox is going to take a "measured approach" to rolling out its robotaxi service, and noted that his company has been working closely with local and federal safety regulators. "I can say that in the next few weeks, we're actually going to have a couple dozen Zoox robotaxis across our Foster City, San Francisco and Las Vegas, geofences that will expand several fold over the next year," he said. "And then, you know, 2026 is when we're going to really start cranking out production vehicles at very large scale."
He also said Zoox will launch an "explorer" program of early riders who will be able to use the robotaxis for free before opening the service up to paying customers. (Rival Waymo operated a similar invite-only early rider program before opening its service to the paying public.) These early riders, or explorers, will gain access to the Zoox vehicles early next year starting with Las Vegas, Levinson said. The Zoox AVs will operate throughout the "most busy 16 hours" of the day, Levinson said, noting that it's "so boring at four in the morning, we don't think we would learn very much."
I'm waiting for Johnny Cab (Score:1)
Because, why not?
Finally! (Score:2)
Yeah, I'm pretty sure nobody cares if another also-ran comes along with inferior technology to kill people. Well, except for the people being killed, I suppose.
Re: (Score:2)
But I hope they have a plan to catch up that’s more than “work hard”. They’re how many decades.. behind waymo?
Re: (Score:2)
Well damn, that changes everything!
I don't have nearly as much of a problem with being run over by flawed technology if it looks cool!
Uncool man Re:I can just see it now! (Score:3, Insightful)
Playing tricks on fellow attendees can be cool (as long as it doesn't go to far of course - if they have to call the coroner, that's bad, very bad).
Playing tricks on the hotel or other businesses that aren't there specifically for DEFCON is not.
If your pranks do incidental damage to the hotel or taxicab or other business, be a responsible person and own up to it and pay for the damages.
Hooray! (Score:2)
San Francisco! Hooray! Now all of you who bought into the Taxi cartel and supporting politicians hating on Uber, claiming they're dangerous and unregulated, can rest assured. No humans necessary for this dangerous job anymore!
Hooray!
Yay! Merry Christmas, you old Savings & Loan! Hooray! Yayyyyyyy! Hooray!
Hooray! No more human taxi drivers to do dangerous, possibly unregulated work! [youtube.com]
A bot can take my stinkin' job! (Score:2)
We should celebrate automation of grunt jobs, but unfortunately "no job = no status" in our society. We need to work on that.
We do have a shortage of child-care, elder-care, social workers, and neighborhood security watchers (no confrontation, just observe & report) such that there is plenty for humans to do, but nobody wants to pay for it.
How did Star Trek solve this?
Re: (Score:2)
World War III ends in 2053 amid a nuclear holocaust. Ten years later, we get warp drive. Maybe the doomsday accelerationists aren't all bad?
I look forward to seeing what happens (Score:2)
I met one or two employees of zoox when they were just getting started. At the time they were all about 3D printing the car. But if they found a better way to make these things then all the more power to them.
Anyway, That thing has lots of LiDAR on it, so it is sure to work. I have read here on /. lots of times that LiDAR is absolutely must-have for automated driving. They have lots of it.
Re: (Score:2)
Tesla is sticking with vision only cameras. No LIDAR.
Of course, they are way behind Waymo, Cruse, and Zoox.
I wonder if they will change their hardware?