SF Chronicle – The next wave of robotaxis is driving outside of S.F. They’re unlike anything you’ve experienced
Editors note: the design of the Zoox vehicle is not a new one. Cruise, for example, had a very similar vehicle running around on San Francisco roads.
See original article by Ricardo Cano at SF Chronicle
The toaster box-shaped robotaxi that pulls into a parking space outside a waterfront office park in Foster City resembles a carriage more than a conventional car.
The vehicle is symmetrical and almost half the length of a sport utility vehicle, but taller than a typical sedan. It has no steering wheel or pedals. There are no front seats. Or back seats. Rather, the driverless car manufactured by Amazon’s Zoox features inward-facing chairs, similar to taxicabs in London, for four passengers. Sliding doors opened by touch screens provide entry to the unique chariot.
On a 2-mile loop of quiet public roads, the Zoox robotaxi drives at speeds of up to 35 mph (it’s designed to drive up to 75 mph), making a left turn tighter than a regular car at a stop-light intersection before pulling into another parking spot.
On the way back, the robotaxi doesn’t have to make a three-point turn to back out of its parking space. Because it’s bidirectional, what was considered its rear now becomes the robotaxi’s front and it simply drives out of the lot.
In many ways, this is the future of driverless robotaxis in San Francisco — where, as Zoox’s industrial and creative design director, Chris Stoffel, puts it, riding in robotaxis will feel more like being inside a “room or lounge moving down the road.”
Zoox’s purpose-built robotaxis could be the next to hit the streets of San Francisco — where Waymo and Cruise have operated. Company officials announced plans to deploy their unique driverless cars in the city, but won’t say when. In the meantime, the company’s ubiquitous white Toyota Highlanders with lidar equipment on their roofs continue to drive around, mapping San Francisco’s roads.
The city has served as a launching pad for robotaxi ride-hailing services since last August, when state regulators allowed Waymo and Cruise to charge for driverless rides at all hours anywhere in San Francisco. Those two companies have led the race to develop and deploy self-driving technology.
Last month, Waymo opened its driverless ride-hailing service to anyone in San Francisco, and the Mountain View company is testing driverless rides in the Peninsula ahead of its approved commercial expansion in the Bay Area and Los Angeles. Before its involvement in a severe crash in San Francisco derailed its operations, Cruise planned to expand its robotaxis to other U.S. cities, including Austin, Texas.
But, about a half-hour drive south of San Francisco, Zoox has been making quiet progress toward becoming the third company to enter the nation’s commercial robotaxi ride-hailing market. Zoox’s arrival will be different, and not just because of the vehicle’s appearance.
Whereas Waymo and Cruise have retrofitted vehicles from other car manufacturers to include their self-driving technology, Zoox is vying to become the first company to commercially deploy purpose-built robotaxis manufactured in-house. (Zoox leases the space for its manufacturing facility in Fremont from Bay Area Production Services, the newspaper printing hub owned by Hearst, the Chronicle’s parent company.)
Last year, the Foster City company started testing fully driverless rides on a mile-long fixed route shuttling employees between Zoox’s main buildings. Earlier this year in Las Vegas, the company expanded its driverless test rides for employees and their families to cover a 5-mile stretch of public roads near the city’s famed strip of casinos and hotels. Company executives say they plan to launch commercial service in San Francisco and Las Vegas, though they won’t provide a timeline.
“It’s a long game, that’s the best way to look at it,” said Ron Thaniel, Zoox’s senior director of policy and regulatory affairs. “This is a marathon, not a sprint.”
It’s evident, though, that Zoox has been laying the groundwork for an eventual deployment in San Francisco. The company is using its fleet of vehicles with human safety drivers behind the wheel to test its artificial intelligence driving software in the city, gathering driving experience and mapping its public roads.
According to data from the state Department of Motor Vehicles, Zoox logged more than 700,000 autonomous testing miles on California roads in 2023, trailing only Waymo (4.8 million miles) and Cruise (2.6 million miles).
Zoox would require driverless deployment permits from the DMV and the California Public Utilities Commission, which regulates robotaxis in the state, to charge for driverless rides in the city. The PUC last year awarded Zoox a driverless pilot permit early this year that allows the company to carry members of the public in its robotaxis on unpaid rides in Foster City, though data Zoox reported to the PUC shows it put the permit to little use.
The robotaxis’ experience has been limited, thus far, to ferrying employees and close friends on a fixed route in Foster City and a limited area in Las Vegas. Though its test fleet can be seen in San Francisco, Zoox’s new cube-like robotaxis haven’t carried any passengers in the city.
Robotaxis entered a new phase last year with Waymo and Cruise’s commercial launch in San Francisco. Since then, more people in the city have become exposed to autonomous driving technology and its use has skyrocketed, largely due to Waymo.
But the autonomous vehicle industry has also attracted more scrutiny from regulators, lawmakers and cities, particularly after a Cruise robotaxi dragged a jaywalking pedestrian in San Francisco last October. Waymo, Cruise and Zoox are each under investigation by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration.
Thaniel said Zoox is learning from Waymo and Cruise’s deployment experiences in San Francisco. The company has hosted training sessions for first responders — its robotaxis include a QR code and a phone number authorities can call during emergencies. Zoox officials say they’re listening to concerns from city leaders and have kept them in the loop about their plans in San Francisco.
Zoox officials have said that they expect commercial deployment will be a yearslong process.
“We’re all on the journey together. At the end of the day, we all want each company to succeed,” Thaniel said. “We are truly on the cusp of an autonomous transportation future. And that’s going to transform the way people move, though, it’s going to transform the way goods are delivered.”
Company officials say Zoox is focused on robotaxi ride-hailing and have not publicly announced any plans to use their vehicles for parcel deliveries. Amazon’s ownership of the company, however, has fueled speculation that Zoox could be integrated into the e-commerce giant’s delivery operations.
During the Foster City test ride, the Zoox vehicle fluidly maneuvered public roads on its 2-mile loop, silently driving at a constant speed. There weren’t any sudden stops or jerky movements. Riding in the vehicle while facing its rear makes the robotaxi trip feel more like a being in a shuttle than a normal car ride.
The vehicle’s interior has ample legroom and includes charging ports, climate controls and a “celestial” roof that mimics a night sky. Its tall, clear screen doors gave a clearer outside view.
Unlike Waymo robotaxis, the Zoox robotaxi doesn’t have a dashboard that tells you how fast the vehicle is going, nor does it have a screen that provides a sense of how the robotaxi perceives its surroundings.
The short route also left little opportunity to see the robotaxi operate under more stressful conditions, such as navigating in dense city traffic and among cyclists, pedestrians and emergency response vehicles as it would encounter in San Francisco. Zoox officials say its robotaxi can drive under foggy conditions and triple-digit heat, as well as at night and during rush-hour traffic conditions.
Stoffel, Zoox’s creative design director, said the vehicle uses “four different sensory modalities” — lidar, cameras, radar and long-wave infrared — to get a “full picture” of its surroundings and driving conditions. Like Waymo and Cruise, the exterior of Zoox’s robotaxis comes equipped with varying sensors and cameras.
The Zoox robotaxi experience could feel much different for first-time riders, and those accustomed to riding inside autonomous vehicles.
“There’s no roadmap to how to develop” a purpose-built robotaxi, Stoffel said. “We’ve been designing, engineering and manufacturing regular vehicles for a very long time. We know that very well, regulation helps guide those principles very well. But from a robotaxi standpoint, it’s a fresh sheet of paper.”
See original article by Ricardo Cano at SF Chronicle
