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Zoox , Amazon ’s autonomous fomite unit , is deploying a little fleet of retrofitted tryout vehicles on the streets of Los Angeles starting Tuesday — a meek , yet meaningful step as the company inches toward offering public ride in Las Vegas and San Francisco later this year .
The data - collection effort marks Zoox ’s entranceway into its sixth city and lays the groundwork for a future robotaxi serving . Unlike rival Waymo , which is already providingpaid robotaxi rides in LA , Zoox is still in the former stages . This deployment will get off out manually driven Toyota Highlanders equipped with Zoox ’s self - driving tech to gather mapping data ahead of broader autonomous testing in LA this summer .
Zoox is presently test its autonomous vehicles — both the Highlander test fleet and its purpose - work up robotaxis made without a guidance wheel or foot lever — in several city . Notably , Zoox has expanded the areas where its purpose - built robotaxi is try out on public roads in Foster City , San Francisco , and Las Vegaswithout a human gadget driver . Zoox late allowed employees , media , and other vet guest totry the serving .
The society is also test in Austin , Miami , and Seattle using Highlanders with human safety operators behind the wheel .
The expansion in California fall a few week after Zoox issued avoluntary software recallon 258 vehicle due to issues with its self-directed driving system unexpectedly hard braking .
Zoox ’s entrance into Los Angeles come after Waymo ’s launching of a fully autonomous commercial-grade robotaxi service in the city . To particular date , Waymo is the only AV company in the U.S. that offer up a paid inspection and repair in several city , let in the Bay Area , Phoenix , and Austin . The Alphabet - have troupe aim to found a commercial armed service in Atlanta , Miami , and Washington , D.C. over the next two geezerhood .
This article has been updated with more info from Zoox .
