AUSTIN, Texas — The Texas capital will soon see more driverless cars in the area, but they won’t be Waymos.
Robotaxi service Zoox announced plans to begin testing its vehicles in Austin, though there’s no concrete start date. Testing will also occur in Miami, and service expansion will hit San Francisco and Las Vegas.
“This is our year of growth,” Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said in a statement. “We are actively implementing learnings to confidently and safely scale our robotaxi service across the country and bring our differentiated experience to even more riders.”
Since mid-2024, Zoox has evaluated what it calls a “retrofitted testing fleet” in Austin and Miami. This year’s tests are “the next stage of our deployment,” Zoox said.
Initial test rides are reserved for Zoox employees and their families and friends only. A waitlist for an Austin early rider program will open later this year, allowing people to ride for free and provide feedback.
According to the Zoox website, the company tested the robotaxis “extensively on Austin’s weirdest twists, turns, and intersections.” Zoox vehicles have seatbelt monitors, safety-focused active suspension, remote support from operators, wraparound airbags and a 360-degree field of view with the help of cameras, lidar and radar.