Amazon’s Zoox begins San Francisco robotaxi pilot program

Zoox, the Amazon-backed robotaxi company, just launched its public self-driving taxi service in San Francisco.

The rollout started Tuesday, and it’s open to people who sign up through the Zoox Explorer program using the Zoox app.

Riders can take free trips around SoMa, Mission, and the Design District, either by entering a destination or choosing one of Zoox’s suggested spots.

The company began operating this service in Las Vegas back in September, but San Francisco isn’t new territory.

“Zoox has been testing our autonomous technology in San Francisco since 2017,” said CEO Aicha Evans. She called it the company’s “home,” saying the team is eager to expand its footprint and make the service more available across the city.

Amazon’s Zoox brings its own vehicle design

What makes Zoox different from other players like Waymo or Tesla is that its robotaxis aren’t retrofitted sedans or SUVs. These are purpose-built from the chassis up. No steering wheels. No pedals.

Just two bench seats facing each other in a square-shaped vehicle that looks more like a mini living room than a car. There’s no front or back. The thing can drive both ways, and switches its lights depending on which direction it’s headed.

This setup also packs a wall of sensors and cameras all around the vehicle. If the system runs into a weird or dangerous situation it doesn’t know how to handle, human operators from Zoox’s control center can step in remotely to take over.

That’s exactly what happened during a recent CES 2025 demo in Las Vegas. The vehicle cruised past heavy traffic outside the Raiders’ stadium, but once it reached a narrow construction zone, it stalled. A remote safety driver took over, reversed the car out, and then set it back to autonomous mode.

This type of fallback isn’t new, but Zoox’s approach to mobility clearly isn’t built on just copying what’s out there. It’s also not limited to a single direction of travel or constrained by the usual car hardware layout, which puts it in a very different lane compared to Tesla’s invite-only pilot in Austin or Waymo’s larger deployment across cities.

Competition expands across U.S. cities

Still, Zoox isn’t the only game in town. Waymo, owned by Google’s parent company Alphabet, is already live in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, and Atlanta.

It’s now preparing to add Miami and Washington D.C., and has started testing in New York City. Just last week, Waymo confirmed it’s letting its cars operate on highways, signaling a more aggressive expansion beyond city centers.

Tesla, meanwhile, is still in limited testing. Its service is only open by invitation and operates primarily in Austin, though it recently expanded to parts of Arizona, with plans to grow further.

On another front, Uber is trying to build its own robotaxi pipeline by partnering with Lucid Motors and Nuro, a self-driving tech firm.In July, Uber said they plan to deploy 20,000 Lucid Gravity SUVs fitted with Nuro’s Level 4 autonomous software on its platform.

These vehicles would run on Uber’s existing network and management systems, with the first deployments scheduled across the next six years.

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