A Zoox autonomous robotaxi in San Francisco, California, US, on Wednesday, Dec. 4, 2024.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Images
Zoox on Tuesday began allowing select San Francisco users to hail its driverless vehicles, pitting the Amazon-owned robotaxi service against Alphabet’s Waymo in the same market for the first time.
Riders can sign up to join the “Zoox Explorers” program to take free rides in the company’s box-shaped vehicles in certain San Francisco neighborhoods, including SoMa and the Mission and Design districts, the company said.
Zoox will take users off the waitlist depending on their location and as it adds more robotaxis to its fleet. The company hopes to remove the waitlist entirely in 2026, Zoox spokesperson Marisa Wiggam said.
Founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, Zoox is building a robotaxi business that aims to compete with Waymo. But unlike others in the robotaxi space, Zoox’s vehicle has no steering wheel, with the company opting to design its robotaxis from the ground up.
Zoox notched a major milestone in September when it opened up its robotaxi service to the public for the first time in Las Vegas. The company is offering free rides on and around the Las Vegas Strip while it waits to get regulatory approval for a paid service.
The company has been testing its autonomous vehicle technology in San Francisco since 2017 via retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs. The company began to deploy its toaster-shaped driverless shuttles on San Francisco streets last year, before allowing friends and family of Zoox employees to hail its robotaxis in parts of the city.
Zoox has deployed a fleet of 50 robotaxis between San Francisco and Las Vegas, the company told CNBC in September.
Waymo opened up its service to all San Francisco riders in June 2024. Since launching its service in Phoenix in 2020, Waymo has provided more than 10 million paid rides, the company said in May.
Last week, the Google sister company announced that it would begin offering freeway rides in the San Francisco, Los Angeles and Phoenix markets. Waymo also said it was expanding its service to include San Jose and the San Jose Mineta International Airport.
As Zoox builds out its service, the Amazon company has deployed its test fleet in Seattle, Austin, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington, D.C.
WATCH: Amazon’s Zoox jumps into U.S. robotaxi race with Las Vegas launch
