Amazon.com Inc.’s Zoox is expanding testing of its autonomous driving technology to Atlanta, moving in on a market where Alphabet Inc.’s Waymo is expanding with Uber Technologies Inc.
Zoox has already deployed a small number of test vehicles in the city’s downtown area. These are retrofitted gas-powered cars that have safety drivers for the purposes of mapping and data collection. Full autonomous testing will start in the summer.
Atlanta has emerged as a hot market for launching robotaxis and testing autonomous-vehicle tech. Waymo, which already offers hailable cars in Austin through the Uber app, is opening service for a limited selection of riders in Atlanta this week, also in partnership with Uber. This summer, Lyft Inc. also plans to launch a driverless ride-hail service with May Mobility.
Waymo currently operates its own proprietary ride-hailing service and app, Waymo One, in cities in California and Arizona.
In a crowded field, Zoox has been deliberately cautious and does not yet offer commercial rides for customers. Its main long-term focus is a purpose-built vehicle with inward facing seats, no steering wheel and no pedals that it plans to deploy as part of its own app-based service. It does not offer trips to the public for either vehicle type, outside of its employees, nor does it charge fares in any of the markets where it’s conducting tests.
Watch More: Robotaxi Zoox’s Plan to Take On Las Vegas (Video)
In addition to Atlanta, Zoox’s test markets include San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, Austin, Miami and Los Angeles.
Photo: A Zoox autonomous robotaxi in San Francisco. (Photographer: David Paul Morris/Bloomberg)
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