Zoox has built dozens of custom electric robotaxis and is testing them on one or more "semi-private routes" in California, according to Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson. "We have dozens -- not hundreds, but very close to double digits," Levinson said, referring to the total number of robot axes built and being tested.
The information revealed in interviews with the media indicates that the Amazon subsidiary is gearing up to start testing its electric robotaxis on public roads. Zoox is currently testing Toyota Highlanders equipped with its self-driving system in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Foster City, Calif., near its headquarters, and recently expanded testing to Seattle. These vehicles are driven by human safety drivers.
Zoox plans to commercialize a purpose-built self-driving car that is loaded with sensors, can travel in both directions, has four-wheel steering and can transport four people at 75mph.
The company unveiled the cuboid car in December 2020 before essentially disappearing from public view. As it turns out, the car is being tested on an open road similar to a campus. Levinson wouldn't reveal the exact location of the robot's axes, but said it wasn't a closed campus with just Zoox employees.
"As you can imagine, you know, a campus or a research facility, what I mean by open roads, the people we interact with, whether they're cyclists, pedestrians, (other) vehicles, they're not other Zoox Agency. It's not like a closed Zoox campus," Levinson said.
He later added Chen Heng that these campuses are not yet fully public routes.
Spokesmen for neither Levinson nor Zoox would say when the company plans to test its custom robot axis on public roads.
For now, the company continues to build robo-taxi at its 150,000-square-foot factory in Fremont, California.
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