Amazon Trials Autonomous Robot Taxi “Zoox” In California

The following report is by Show Me Tech:

The autonomous vehicle unit of Amazon, zoox, said it has successfully tested a robot taxi with employees as passengers on a public road, in a bid to move forward with its plans to make the service commercially available to the general public soon. According to the company, the test took place on February 11 in Foster City, California. The path was about 1.6 kilometers long.

How Did The Test Take Place?

The test took place after zoox receive the driverless test permit from the California Department of Motor Vehicles (DMV). The document allowed the robot taxi to operate autonomously on public, empty roads and with Zoox employees as passengers, according to a statement released by the company.

The license, however, does not allow the vehicle to travel on all public roads in the state. Testing is currently limited to transporting employees of the zoox on a one-mile public route between two office buildings at the company’s headquarters in Foster City, at speeds of up to 1,6 kilometers per hour.

Aicha Evans CEO of zoox, says “this is an incredible milestone for Zoox and the autonomous vehicle industry as a whole.” The objective, as pointed out by the company, is to offer the service to the general public soon. 

Over the weekend, Jesse [Levinson, chief technology officer] and I took the first autonomous ride in our purpose-built robot taxi on open public roads.

Amazon’s Robot Taxi

The vehicles do not have a steering wheel or pedals and have two-way steering and four-wheel steering capability, allowing them to change direction without the need to back up. In addition, they have capacity for up to four passengers, with two facing the other two, quite different from what we are used to.

Putting the vehicle on an open public road and validating our approach to all the different requirements, including regulatory, is a big step and we wouldn’t have done it unless internally we were already looking at the start of business operation.

Aicha Evans, CEO of Zoox, said

So far, the company has not disclosed how many vehicles like this one have already been produced, nor when they will be commercially available for passenger transport. A Amazon, which has been aggressively expanding into self-driving technology, bought Zoox for $1,3 billion in 2020.

The head of technology at zoox, Jesse Levinson, said the company has been cautious about its growth but is still on track to reach 2.500 employees in 2023, up from just under 2 earlier this year.

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AUTHOR COMMENTARY

No thanks, I’ll pass. But since most people are so lazy these days, especially in a place like California, there’s no doubt this will be accepted once this grows on a more commercial scale.

A slothful man hideth his hand in his bosom, and will not so much as bring it to his mouth again.

Proverbs 19:24

SEE: UAE Completes Operation Of First Autonomous Taxi Trial

World Economic Forum Says They Want To Limit 76% Of Private Car Ownership By 2050

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[7] Who goeth a warfare any time at his own charges? who planteth a vineyard, and eateth not of the fruit thereof? or who feedeth a flock, and eateth not of the milk of the flock? [8] Say I these things as a man? or saith not the law the same also? [9] For it is written in the law of Moses, Thou shalt not muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out the corn. Doth God take care for oxen? [10] Or saith he it altogether for our sakes? For our sakes, no doubt, this is written: that he that ploweth should plow in hope; and that he that thresheth in hope should be partaker of his hope. (1 Corinthians 9:7-10).

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