Amazon’s Zoox Robotaxi Service Launches in Las Vegas with Free Public Rides

Amazon’s Zoox has launched robotaxi services on the Las Vegas Strip. According to Reuters, the autonomous vehicle startup is offering free Zoox robotaxi rides in Las Vegas as it awaits regulatory approval. Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3 billion five years ago.

Zoox Expansion Plans

After getting regulatory approval, Zoox plans to expand autonomous rides across Las Vegas in the coming months. The company has been testing 50 robotaxis in Las Vegas and San Francisco. The company has been testing most of its autonomous cabs in Las Vegas where it had been operating a test loop ride from a Las Vegas casino.

“We’ve actually been getting thousands of riders every week just from this one location, which actually quite exceeded our expectations,” Chief Technology Officer Jesse Levinson said.

The company plans to introduce Amazon autonomous vehicle public rides in San Francisco by the end of 2025. Zoox executives said the company has been testing its robotaxis in this city for months and has started adding riders to a wait list. The company has also identified Miami and Austin as its 2026 expansion locations and will commence robotaxi testing in these markets soon.

The company said it has adapted test vehicles in Atlanta, Los Angeles, and Seattle with its autonomous driving technology. Zoox robotaxis will mostly run on their own with human assistance available remotely when the vehicles request help.

Competition in the Robotaxi Industry

Zoox is getting into an industry market where Alphabet-owned Waymo already has a head start. Waymo has been offering commercial autonomous rides since 2020. In May 2025, Waymo said that it had surpassed 10 million paid rides.

With a fleet of about 2,000 vehicles, Waymo’s paid robotaxi service is available in different U.S. cities, including Phoenix, San Francisco, Miami, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta. In June 2025, a report by Wells Fargo projected that Waymo could capture 10% of the U.S. rideshare trips in five years.

Zoox will also be competing with Tesla, which commenced Model Y tests in Austin Texas back in May 2025. The company rolled out a limited number of robotaxis in June 2025. The autonomous cabs picked paying passengers in Austin, Texas.

In July 2025, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said the company was seeking regulatory approval to launch robotaxis in multiple states, including California, Nevada, Arizona and Florida. The company started offering ride-hailing service in San Francisco. Tesla robotaxis have a safety driver who uses the company’s driver-assistance technology.

Commercialization of autonomous ride-hailing cabs has not been as fast as anticipated. The process faces headwinds that include public protests, stringent regulations, federal investigations, and high investment requirements. These challenges have forced many robotaxi ventures to wind up.

Zoox Market Differentiation

Despite competition from Waymo and Tesla, Zoox could stand out in the robotaxi industry due to its look and feel. Zoox’s debut purpose-built robotaxi does not resemble a vehicle. Instead, it comes with a rectangular shape that makes it look like a toaster on wheels. There are no pedals or steering wheel inside and passengers face each other.

“This is a very differentiating experience that you want people to sort of get to understand and know the robotaxi, get used to it, and give us feedback too. That’s good for the community, that’s good for the riders, and that’s good for Zoox,” Aicha Evans, Zoox Chief Executive said.

Speaking to CNBC, Zoox Co-founder and Technology Chief Jesse Levinson said, “We use robotaxi or vehicle or Zoox. You can shoehorn a robotaxi into something that used to be a car. It’s just not an ideal solution. We wanted to do that hard work and take the time and invest in that, and then bring something to market that’s just much better than a car.”