Zoox, the Amazon-owned self-driving company, is expanding its test fleet to Atlanta. It’ll soon begin testing its autonomous technology there aboard retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, before residents eventually get the chance to climb aboard a purpose-built robotaxi.
Atlanta is Zoox’s seventh test market. It announced its expansion to Los Angeles in April, and also operates its test fleet in the San Francisco Bay Area, Las Vegas, Seattle, Miami and Austin, Texas.
Safety drivers sit behind the wheel of Zoox’s test fleet, and will manually drive around a new location to gather data before eventually testing the company’s autonomous driving technology. In Atlanta, that autonomous rollout is expected to happen this summer, starting downtown.
But the company’s final, rider-ready vehicles don’t have a driver’s seat, steering wheel or pedals. Zoox plans to allow public riders aboard these pod-like vehicles in Las Vegas and San Francisco later this year. I took an early test ride in October, which felt surprisingly ordinary, despite the vehicle’s very futuristic appearance. You can check out that experience in the video below.
Watch this: This Robotaxi Looks and Drives Like No Car You’ve Ever Seen Before
Zoox will have some company in Atlanta. Waymo, which is owned by Google parent Alphabet, plans to launch fully autonomous rides there this summer, through a partnership with Uber. Waymo is currently the leader in the self-driving race, operating autonomous rides for the general public in locations including San Francisco, Los Angeles, Phoenix and Austin, Texas. It’s also slated to expand to more cities like Miami and Washington, DC.
In a statement, Zoox said Atlanta is “one of the largest ride-hailing markets in the United States,” and that, as a tech hub, it “welcomes autonomous vehicle testing and innovation in many fields.”
The company added, “Atlanta also has a growing population, diverse road conditions, traffic patterns, and unique weather conditions, including frequent thunderstorms. The city is located in a dense, urban landscape, which creates a strong demand for efficient transportation solutions like on-demand autonomous ride-hailing.”
Zoox stands apart from competitors like Waymo by controlling every element of its robotaxis, from design to manufacturing to operations. Waymo, on the other hand, currently operates autonomous rides aboard retrofitted Jaguar I-Pace vehicles. Tesla also plans to launch a purpose-built Robotaxi, with Elon Musk saying the fully self-driving vehicle will go into production “before 2027.” In the meantime, Tesla has the ambitious goal of debuting a self-driving service in Austin, Texas, in June aboard existing Model Y vehicles.