Zoox, a new autonomous ride-hailing company, is expanding to Dallas and will begin testing on the roadways soon.

DALLAS — Dallas will soon be home to yet another autonomous ride-hailing service, Zoox, an Amazon-owned robotaxi company, announced. 

Along with Dallas, Zoox will launch soon in Phoenix, marking the ninth and tenth markets Zook’s fleet will operate in. 

“Phoenix and Dallas are both rapidly growing metropolitan areas with high demand for ride-hailing and first- and last-mile connections,” the company said in a press release. “Expanding into these cities allows us to test in sprawling environments, differentiating this data from our testing in other dense metro areas like San Francisco.”

Before launching in the city, Zoox deploys test vehicles with safety drivers that will map and collect data. Those fleet vehicles will be on the streets of Dallas in the coming weeks, the release states. The safety driver is always able to disengage the AI if needed, the company said. The testing will begin in central neighborhoods, before Zoox deploys its robotaxis to start additional testing. 

 Expanding to Dallas and Phoenix will allow the company to test the vehicle’s resilience, the company said. 

“Crucially, these markets allow us to rigorously validate our technology’s resilience in diverse and challenging weather conditions,” the release states. “Dallas provides a valuable testing ground to refine our AI against diverse weather and complex road networks.”