New options for self-driving taxis to provide public vehicles this year

This year, it will be first deployed in Las Vegas, with a new fleet of self-driving taxis ready to hit the streets.

The Amazon-backed vehicle has been in 10 years and the company says it wants to redefine transportation.

“Our vision for the future isn’t enough to require many people to buy their own car,” said Jesse Levinson, co-founder of Zoox.

Zoox is on a mission to change what driving looks like. Those Robotaxis are autonomous vehicles that cater to the rider’s experience.

“It’s a really great premium experience.” It’s safe, consistent, clean and much more efficient,” Levinson said.

The Zoox Robotaxis doesn’t look like a standard car. They have four seats in the car, and riders sit in two rows facing each other.

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“We really wanted to create a social experience. There was a carriage in front of the car, and they looked like this. Because it’s actually a natural way you want to interact with people,” Levinson said.

Riders can call taxis via the app. Zoox says their vehicles are priced competitively against other existing offers.

Each rider has its own touchscreen. The rider can adjust the vehicle’s temperature. (Sunny Tsai/FoxBusiness)

“As time goes by, technology becomes more ubiquitous and lower costs, we can reduce our customers’ costs,” Levinson said.

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To ensure their Robotaki is safe, Zoox is testing it on hundreds of vehicles with the same technology and sensors.

“We tried to make the vehicle as safe as possible, not just from a certain autonomy perspective, but also from a passive crash perspective. For example, there’s this incredible reverse holsoche airbag system that envelops all passengers when there’s a crash, which is very safe,” Levinson said.

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Tests are always underway to ensure that Robotaxis is consistently safe, but one autonomous vehicle expert says that self-driving cars could make public roads safer.

Zoox uses the same equipment and sensors in its test vehicles, just like the Robotaxis. (Sunny Tsai/FoxBusiness)

“It’s a defensive style of driving. It’s inherently safe. The decisions made by our technology move much faster than the human brain,” Gatic is the vice president of Steiner, a wealth of government relations and public affairs.

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Zoox Robotaxis will begin its first public ride in Las Vegas and San Francisco. The company focuses on starting in dense cities and eventually expanding over time.