San Francisco, USA (Global News)_Driverless cabs are now on the road in California, albeit on a test run. Online retail giant Amazon pushed a number of buttons this week when it deployed Zoox robotaxis into traffic and into public roads. It went one step further and deployed employees as passengers in these driverless taxis, which it says it intends using on its own campuses and leasing out to cab companies of the likes of Uber.
The Robotaxi will pave the way for a no-cost employee shuttle service and a refining of Amazon’s technology which then can be sold to employee or student bases that have large land spreads.
Amazon stepped into the driverless realm when it acquired the startup Zoox for USD 1.3 million in 2020 and began expanding aggressively into a future where driverless cars will be the norm. However, while most tech enthusiasts have called driverless cars the face of the future relegating cars driven by humans as a thing of the past, there has been little progress made on autonomous cars, with safety being the overarching feature driving that decision.
While Tesla’s autopilot must have a driver at the wheel in case something goes awry, there are other automakers who have also gone down this path of autonomous vehicles, sometimes to great disappointment. Ford Motors and Volkswagen shut down its self-driving Argo AI division to concentrate more on driver-assisted technology which would give faster returns. General Motors’ Cruise and Google’s Waymo are both on similar tech paths.
Amazon has gone beyond the norm in the autonomous league however. Advancements include testing the robotaxis on public roads with passengers in them, bringing the company a step closer to expanding into commercial rides. It has a top speed of 120 kmph. From design to road, Zoox was created as a completely autonomous vehicle and not as a modification of an already inbuilt design. Hence, it has no steering wheel, no pedals and no driver’s seat, which also means the passenger seating space is designed to face each other.
