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Zoox robotaxi launches in Las Vegas
- speed_spread 1y agoThis being Vegas, they should make it possible to bet that you'll - get lost - be late - collide with a moving car - collide with stationary object - run over a pedestrian (bonus for multiple!)
- tim333 1y agoThey could install a roulette wheel or slot machine in the cab to be in keeping with Vegas.
- wedn3sday 1y agoYou can always do some sports betting on your phone while your getting driven around.
- cosmicgadget 1y agoIt should coerce you to go to a club where it can get you a special deal.
- barbazoo 1y agoIt’s a cute gimmick for tourists but it won’t contribute to public transportation.
- skybrian 1y agoSeems like they could be used together, like taking a taxi to an airport?
- etskinner 1y agoI'd argue that tourists are the main untapped market in terms of transportation on the strip. Workers and residents might already be familiar with the public transport that exists, but most visitors would probably rather get a private car at the exact time they need it (going to the exact place they want to go) rather than figure out the bus schedule. That's proven by the fact that lots of people grab Ubers/similar to get around there. Of all the places to try a gimmick, Vegas is the right place.
- yunyu 1y agoNever understood this take. Just because it doesn’t address the systemic inequities in society doesn’t mean it’s not useful.
- 0x457 1y agoIt's really no more useful than a taxi. It's better (in my opinion) than a taxi and ride-share, but it's no more useful at all.
- 1234letshaveatw 1y agoYou managed to come off as condescending, smug and a zealot in one sentence. Bravo. I imagine this stems from not meeting strong town criteria because you aren't forced to share a seat with a stranger or some similar nonsense
- pavel_lishin 1y agoIt's a cute comment for dunking, but it won't contribute to quality discourse on this website.
- ARandumGuy 1y agoThe fact that there isn't a rail line from the airport to the strip is wild. It would simplify travel for tourists dramatically, and get a lot of hotel shuttles and taxis off the street. There's a reason why even cities with bad public transit usually have a line to the airport, and it's wild that Las Vegas doesn't have one.
- sand500 1y agoI agree it's stupid. Relevant video on this: https://youtu.be/-DAfmFdLIjo?si=wg8inSg84VvXFFLx https://youtu.be/-DAfmFdLIjo?si=wg8inSg84VvXFFLx
- bluGill 1y ago> and get a lot of hotel shuttles and taxis off the street. No it wouldn't. Those hotel shuttles and taxies are ideal for anyone with luggage as you don't have to carry your own heavy bags with you. The train doesn't want those people slowing things down for everyone as they get all their bags on/off the train. Airport lines are a good idea because many thousands of people work at airports and thus don't have luggage. They are also useful for travelers taking a short trip and thus don't have much packaged. However Vegas as a vacation destination is expected to have a lot of people with luggage and less people who are light travelers. Once tourists drop their bags in their room they should be using transit for every trip until it is finally time to return to the airport.
- AnimalMuppet 1y ago"The strip" isn't one place. It's several miles long. It's not walkable for people with luggage. To do what you propose, you'd have to not just build it to the strip, but along the strip, which is a whole different problem. There's not a lot of space to build a rail line there. It would have to be a block or two away at best. And then, well, the stuff on the other side of the strip is now three blocks away. For people with luggage. In 105 degree heat in August, or in sandstorms, or sometimes in snow.
- ARandumGuy 1y agoLas Vegas Boulevard is like 8 lanes wide. Get rid of two car lanes and now you have plenty of room for a rail line.
- oceanplexian 1y ago> It’s a cute gimmick for tourists Yes, that's why they call it the Las Vegas strip. It is an entire city literally designed for tourists.
- adrr 1y agoBetter than a tax that will take you on long route to your destination to get more money out of you. I don’t know how many times that has happened to me in Vegas. Had one drive downtown when I was going from Aria to Mandalay.
- orionsbelt 1y agoI have a good sense of what Waymo and Tesla’s capabilities are, but not Zoox. Can anyone here clue me in on how Zoox compares?
- oooyay 1y agoZoox is funded by Amazon and is built from the ground up to be a robotaxi fleet with a custom car. There is no steering wheel afaik. Announcement: https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation/zoox-headquarters-car-ride https://www.aboutamazon.com/news/innovation/zoox-headquarter...
- mandeepj 1y ago> Zoox is funded by Amazon Amazon owns it, not just funded them. > There is no steering wheel afaik Maybe the control is in a remote centre then
- oooyay 1y ago> Amazon owns it, not just funded them. Yeah that's fair, when I interviewed with them I remember asking that specifically and they were just a lead investor. Crazy how much a year changes things like that.
- SpaceNoodled 1y agoIt's a robot. It's driving itself, not being driven by a human.
- sxp 1y agohttps://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2025/02/03/2024-disengagement-reports-from-california/ https://thelastdriverlicenseholder.com/2025/02/03/2024-disen... says it's about 40% as good as a Waymo if you use disengagement as a metric.
- _fat_santa 1y agoI was just in Vegas and saw these rolling around, we actually got stuck behind one trying to make a right turn onto LV Boulevard (the strip) and seemed to be far to cautious.
- maelito 1y agoThe most useful thing I expect from robotaxis is speed regulations. What's considered normal for humans, driving higher than the speed limits, will not for automatic cars.
- techterrier 1y agono thanks, I don't fancy dodging 120mph robots when I'm crossing the road, or breathing in the extra pollution that this would create (even if its an EV!)
- riffraff 1y agoI think you misinterpreted, OP meant that robots will respect the rules, which humans typically don't, e.g. driving at 50 where the limit is 30.
- cyanydeez 1y agoyes, but no. Yes, they'll do it for now. No, once they're as normal as humans, they'll definitely be tweaked to maximize profit. And that will include as much speeding as risk/reward dictates. So yeah, they'll do the same thing as humans eventually.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> that will include as much speeding as risk/reward dictates Speeding can usually be brushed off as carelessness. Where it can’t, we charge it more harshly. A robot programmed to speed serves a jury mens rea on a plate.
- techterrier 1y agoHe means that robotaxi companies will make more money if they can fit more 'rides' into a given period. It won't be long before some mba big brain figures out lobbying for increased speed limits will do just that.
- CSMastermind 1y agoI was just there last weekend and saw them everywhere. My buddy asked about it and I'd never heard of the company before. They're definitely distinctive. Seems like robotaxis are getting ready for a big expansion, I see Waymos all over Orlando even though they don't offer service here.
- tracker1 1y agoI worked in Chandler, AZ when Waymo started testing their cars, so it's funny that I don't really think much about them at this point.
- ivape 1y agoHow do we know this isn’t just an autonomous vehicle wrapper company?
- recursive 1y agoI don't know that. Perhaps in aggregate, we don't either.
- SpaceNoodled 1y agoSurely somebody working there would be reading this.
- zamadatix 1y agoZoox is a subsidiary Amazon since 2019, if that's what you mean. If you mean software/hardware - they are full stack, i.e. they didn't buy this as prebuilt from say Waymo and slap a Zoox sticker on it.
- ivape 1y agoIt's worth asking because we are expecting Uber and even some car manufacturers to be full wrapper companies with zero ability to standup and support their own technology with regards to this.
- oxqbldpxo 1y agoThis whole robotaxi thing is so stupid.
- giancarlostoro 1y agoHow so? You realize there are people who cannot legally drive for whom a robotaxi is a life changing achievement?
- bighead1 1y agoWhy wouldn't they just take a taxi driven by a human? Or a bus (also driven by a human)?
- giancarlostoro 1y agoSo your issue is that it is not being driven by a person?
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> Why wouldn't they just take a taxi driven by a human? Because the humans in New York, Phoenix, Los Angeles and San Francisco frequently cancel rides, get lost, drive unsafely, pitch me on their religion and smell. (They also must be tipped, at which point the Waymo is the same price or cheaper than the human-driven ride.) When I have the option of a robotaxi, I pay a premium for it. It’s novel. It’s fun. But most importantly, it’s safe, punctual and comfortable. Otherwise, I'm fine taking a human-driven car. Having more options makes those cities a better experience.
- sbuttgereit 1y agoI'm sitting in the back of a Lyft car right now... I had to prompt the driver via a phone call to actually try to pick me up at the designated airport pickup spot (you know, where the app has me go), he spent 10 minutes trying to get out of the airport parking lot because he didn't seem to have a ticket, and now his constant pumping of the gas peddle in the sluggish Los Angeles traffic is challenging even my ironclad resistance to motion sickness. How I wish I was in a Waymo right now! I've never had remotely such a poor experience in a SF robotaxi.
- nharada 1y agoCongrats to the team! It's no small feat to launch to the public in this space, and from the amount of testing I've seen Zoox doing it certainly seems like they've put in the work. Best of luck!
- martythemaniak 1y agoWhat's interesting is that about 80% Tesla's entire valuation is FSD and Optimus, and the underlying assumption with FSD is that it'll magically turn on for all Tesla's in a day and they'll have a monopoly and extract all the profit needed for that valuation. Apart from any comparisons with Waymo, I suspect self-driving will broadly follow other AI tech, where we'll see a proliferation of competitive self-driving tech on the heels of first movers. Local protectionism will also probably play a big role in this.
- PhunkyPhil 1y agoI think self-driving targets a problem that doesn't really exist. The issue isn't that the act of driving is a laborious task, it's simply the amount of time spent in a car, which FSD doesn't address.
- kevlened 1y agoToo much time spent inside may be a problem, but FSD turns car cabins into rooms. If we're inside already, a room with a destination is often better than a stationary one.
- PhunkyPhil 1y agoThis is true. Now to start a tangent, what's the easier problem to solve: FSD, or a robust public transport system? Moving rooms have always been around in the form of trains, busses, streetcars etc...
- OkayPhysicist 1y agoTurns out, we have an answer to this: Self driving is easier. By a lot. It's not even close. No entrenched interests trying to block your infrastructure plans by claiming that your rail line passes through the territory of some flightless owl, no need to be called racist for cutting through the cheapeast land in the city to build out rails, no need to dig tunnels for subways. No need to overcome class prejudices where the middle class don't want to ride BART with the naked dude with a needle behind his ear. To people outside the Bay, self driving might still seem like some far-off future tech. I can tell you that the future is already here. I haven't used an Uber in the last 3 years because I will always pick Waymo instead.
- techterrier 1y agoHopefully some genius will figure out a way of joining lots of these together into a 'gigapod'. That might have enough capacity to actually work at city scale.
- Osyris 1y agoPerhaps maybe we add common places where it regularly stops and you can get on/off?
- mlnj 1y agoYou might be onto something. Don't stop that train of thought. Keep going.
- cyanydeez 1y agoWe can called it a "Beneficial Usage Service" or BUS, for short.
- JumpCrisscross 1y agoThis meme about self-driving cabs being glorified busses reminds me of the infamous Dropbox comment. It’s technically correct. But it misses the social context so entirely that it, when you realise it’s being seriously said, becomes farce.
- troupo 1y agoThe way these are pushed as "solutions to cities and traffic" make making fun of the too easy. > But it misses the social context Funny how their entire social context is "never encounter another human as you go from A to B"
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> way these are pushed as "solutions to cities and traffic" make making fun of the too easy It's funny. It's also dumb. An observation can be both at the same time--it's a cornerstone of humor. What it isn't is fundamentally true or revealing. > their entire social context is "never encounter another human as you go from A to B" Nope. It's recognising that humans have diverse and varying needs for interaction and privacy. I like to dine out, even alone. That doesn't make everyone who eats at home alone an idiot. (That doesn't mean I can't make jokes about it. But they shouldn't be mistaken for truth.)
- elpakal 1y agoCurious, what happens to those car accident attorneys if/when these become ready for the wild.
- micromacrofoot 1y agothe solution for self-driving cars is obviously for everyone to move to a gridded city in the desert
- fyrn_ 1y agoIf you're trying to imply Vegas is and easy place to drive.. Well I suggest trying it. It's a nightmare of 6-8 lane mega streets , multi tier traffic junctions, and high seed limits with poor signage and markings.
- paulnpace 1y agoPlus drivers in vehicles that are total beaters with no tags, no insurance, and don't give a darn about anything and will sideswipe your car without flinching. Insurance IIRC is 3 highest in the nation. I'm paying $3000 per year with max limits full coverage and this is lower than most people I talk to.
- AnimalMuppet 1y agoThe absolute worst I have seen was teeing into The Strip at the old Stardust Hotel. The Stardust was two blocks long, ten stories high, and covered in neon. And somewhere in the middle of that wall of neon was one little light that was either red, yellow, or green. The light was not brighter than the neon.
- GuinansEyebrows 1y agodo these things self-clean? a free private shuttle service along the strip sounds like a bunch of private vomit-pods on wheels.
- tech_ken 1y agoVomit AT BEST
- slt2021 1y agothere are cameras inside, and they can see who made a mess inside the car
- lazyasciiart 1y agoThat doesn’t do anything except let the taxi go out of service until someone cleans it - assuming that it would identify vomit without waiting for customers to complain after they sit in it.
- slt2021 1y agothis is a trivial problem, same way rental car companies solved it: 1. operator or computer vision detects dirt in salon 2. route the autonomous vehicle to contracted carwash 3. return car back to service 4. charge customer for the cleanup
- Zigurd 1y agoWaymo has contracted with car rental companies to provide cleaning and inspection services.
- darkwizard42 1y agoIt does one better, it holds the passenger who created the mess accountable for the cost and then drops them off the service. You get some bad actors, but you can quickly weed them out. Doesn't change the service outage piece, but it will get better. That being said, your key point - people can do what they want in this thing and no one can really stop them, does stand.
- sgnelson 1y agoI feel like robotaxis are just electric bikes and scooters of 2025. I very well could be wrong (I think I am) but that's the vibes I'm getting from the robotaxis industry right now.
- JumpCrisscross 1y ago> that's the vibes I'm getting from the robotaxis industry …what does this mean? Are vibes another way of saying you feel like it without evidence?
- dewitt 1y ago> robotaxis are just electric bikes and scooters of 2025 Ubiquitous, and life changing for the millions of people who use them daily?
- techterrier 1y agoDeployed recklessly, inevitably cluttering our pavements, filling our canals amoung other antisocial externalities that taxpayers get the bill for?
- fyrn_ 1y agoNo way will that happen with how expensive robotaxis are to make
- standardUser 1y agoIn the US, there's a good chance that AVs will become dominant in 10 years time. In China, it's all but guaranteed. Apollo One has already launched service in the UAE and is expected to launch in Singapore and Malaysia by the end of the year. They're also expected to start testing in several European countries by the end of the year. The question I have at this point is, will only China benefit from launching this new global industry, or will the US manage to also be competitive on a global scale?
- stevage 1y agoWould you like to be more specific with your analogy?
- jewel 1y agoThe front-to-back symmetry is interesting. It may cause some confusion for other drivers, in some limited circumstances, when they can't tell which way the vehicle is facing. It appears, based on my study of the footage on https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRW8bfy4kE https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lIRW8bfy4kE, that it could possibly switch which side is the front and the back by just changing the color of the lights. With RGB LEDs that would be pretty easy to do. But my question is, when would that be useful? It would be neat that it could pull into a driveway and then leave in "reverse", but that doesn't seem like it'd come up that often for a robotaxi. The back wheels look like they can steer. That's useful for parking in tight spaces.
- wmf 1y agoThey can switch sides. They showed a demo of pulling into a parking space then driving straight out.
- jerlam 1y agoI wonder if there are barf bags for the backwards-facing passengers.
- jen20 1y agoLondon Taxis have been configured this way since at least the 1950s and people don't seem to have any problem with it?
- shermantanktop 1y agoI routinely had 8+h drives in the rear-facing seat of my family's circa 1970 Plymouth Satellite station wagon growing up. Completely unsafe, and very boring, but I don't recall barfing. My sister and I would pass the time folding up a piece of paper and each of us got to draw part of a person without seeing what the other had drawn. Sort of like visual madlibs.
- worik 1y ago> rear-facing seat of my family's circa 1970 Plymouth Satellite station wagon growing up. Completely unsafe, I am curious: Unsafe because a " 1970 Plymouth Satellite" or because "rear-facing seat"?
- ricree 1y agoJust about a year and a half too late for https://longbets.org/712/ https://longbets.org/712/ Although from the article, it sounds like this might not be servicing a wide enough area to win the bet even if the time was extended a couple years.
- dingnuts 1y agono the bet is lost on every count 1 it's not fully autonomous, there's a remote operator 2 not a wide enough service area as defined in the bet 3 it's a pilot program, also excluded in the bet 4 it's also a year late and the bet is very much still lost lol but we're going to have self driving cars by 2015 guys!
- wedn3sday 1y agoIs the remote operator actually driving under normal conditions, or do they just step in during an exigent circumstance?
- SpaceNoodled 1y agoThe latter.
- Agraillo 1y agoThe latter, there's an article about this particularly [1] [1] https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/03/technology/zoox-self-driving-cars-remote-control.html https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/09/03/technology/zo...
- finolex1 1y agoThis specific bet is very targeted, but we do absolutely have commerciallly available self-driving cars in 2025 in several cities, and the list of cities is rapidly expanding. An 8-10 year delay from expectations is not too bad all things considered.
- _fat_santa 1y agoI was just in Vegas and saw these rolling around. They seem to have a mix of robotaxis (like the ones pictured) and decked out Toyota Highlanders that look like Waymos but not as well "packaged", though in my personal experience I saw far more of the Highlanders than the custom robotaxis and all of them seemed to have a driver behind the wheel. Vegas is an interesting place to launch IMO (and I believe they only operate in/around the strip). On the one hand all they really have to navigate is the strip which is just one giant straight road. But on the other hand most casinos on the strip have their entrances in the back and once you get off the strip and try to go up to one of these casinos it's a maze of roads. But that only speaks to the technical hurdles, I'm sure a big part of the calculus is that Vegas is very much a "novelty" kind of place and folks are much more likely to give it a shot when there.
- amenghra 1y agoVegas is also good for many other reasons: year round good weather, lots of tourists in need of taxi services, too hot to walk, too drunk to drive, etc…
- monero-xmr 1y ago#1 place cabbies have tried to scam me. #2 being Boston. Uber is such a blessing
- acjohnson55 1y agoBaltimore was infamous for this when I lived there 15 years ago.
- badc0ffee 1y agoSan Francisco, too. I'm so glad for Uber. One downside to Uber in Vegas is that airport pickups happen in some hot parking garage far from the terminals.
- a_t48 1y agoI remember once going on the way back a work trip on a whim, and regretting not checking that the weather was >100 degrees. That step outside was an oven.
- paulnpace 1y agoI now see their development vehicles all over the valley, whereas previously if I was near the Strip that's the only region I would see them in. This valley has congestion issues pretty much all day everywhere, plus a traffic light management protocol that results in very long light cycles. Many of us when coming to a red light where there are multiple lanes and traffic is light, will make a point to not stop in the right lane when there is no right turn only lane. This is so people who are making a right turn can make a right on red instead of waiting for a green. Zoox does not do this. Sometimes there is not quite enough space between vehicles to get into a lane while cars are stopped at a light, such as getting into a left turn lane. Often, some light taps on the horn (or even just sitting with the turn signal) will result in drivers pushing up tight to let you into the left turn lane. Zoox does not do this. Zoox will change lanes many times for no apparent reason, making drivers think it is turning right or left at the next intersection, but it does not turn. As best I can tell, Zoox has issues with pedestrians. I think that the operator (in the test vehicle) takes over when pedestrians are present, because so far I always see them operating the steering wheel when there are pedestrians. As a driver, I don't like any of the automated drivers because I feel there is a thing that can do serious damage and nobody is accountable. These are all owned by corporations whose sole accountability will be financial, nothing more, while drivers are held to both financial a punitive accountability. Further, these are all mega-conglomerates for whom there is no real regard for the destruction their property causes. They are politically connected, so will never lose their operating license. The are funded by the largest investors mankind has ever known. Nobody in these organizations has any respect for morals or ethics, instead fostering a system that promotes psychopaths. I don't want them here. I haven't spoken to anyone who lives here that wants them here.
- octernion 1y ago[flagged]
- paulnpace 1y ago> you sound pretty entitled and have a set of "rules" that aren't traffic rules. > i'm glad we will have robot cars to keep folks like you in your place. you aren't entitled to make the rules of the road. Nobody is required to be polite and considerate while using a shared resource, and if your opinion prevails, we will, indeed, have a cold, heartless society. It is mildly interesting to me that you interpret being polite and considerate as "rules". I made no such claim. I do find it rather belittling to claim I feel "entitled" - perhaps you could refrain from this level of discourse or go to one of the places more appreciative of adolescent behavior.
- jerlam 1y agoI poked around on their site and read the press releases; Zoox seems to be limited to only pickups and dropoffs at a few set locations. > Simply open the Zoox app to take a ride from several destinations on and around the Strip. This puts it dramatically behind Waymo where I can walk out on any block in the coverage area and tell it to take me to any other block in the coverage area, not to mention Uber and Lyft. I'm sure Zoox can improve this, but right now it resembles a self-driving shuttle more than a taxi service.
- SpaceNoodled 1y agoThe main issue in this case is that LV strictly dictates rideshare pickup/dropoff locations on the strip.
- jerlam 1y agoA lot of the more interesting things in Vegas are off the Strip, like Omega Mart or downtown. I was just there this year and after less than a day I saw no reason to be on the Strip.
- SpaceNoodled 1y agoSure, but most tourists are simply on the strip.
- shermantanktop 1y agoA self-driving individual shuttle with preset stops that can integrate into existing roadways is a huge step forward and would be very useful in many urban locations.
- pfooti 1y agoThese little front-back symmetric buses (as well as engineering-outfitted minivans) are pretty common in the mission in SF as well. I see them all the time in a very small (four or so blocks around 16th and folsom where my pottery studio is) area, but I think they're all still just test driving. As a waymo user, I'm looking forward to a little more competition in the market. I quite like waymo, but driving price down woudl be great.
- culopatin 1y agoThe pricing wave Waymo went through is interesting. After the limited access you’d often find them offering same or cheaper rides than Uber/Lyft. People tried them and realized they arrive without the whiplash you get from a start/stop Tesla uber in SF, no smells, no weird interactions. Every person we talked to prefers the Waymo even with its quirks and getting stuck sometimes. Now waymo is 3x uber every time I check it. I’ve gotten rides across the city for $6 on Uber, not sure what driver is making any money at that rate. Per hour you’re much better off working at In and out.
- 0x457 1y agoI think it's just demand driven pricing. Ever since they went GA in LA I see them doing pick-ups and drop-offs all the time from my windows.
- modeless 1y agoI see riders in them occasionally. I think they must be open for employee rides.
- tartoran 1y agoI like these futuristic little carriages. They're certainly useful in some scenarios but I hope to see something similar but obviouly bigger for public trasnportation.
- mosdl 1y agoThey seem idle as last mile transport - taking people to the offices after using the Caltrain for example.
- dilippkumar 1y agoYay! A tiny minuscule bit of my code is riding on these. While I no longer work there, I am absolutely thrilled at this milestone 1. Congratulations everyone! Yay! 2. I absolutely recommend Zoox as a great place to work. Believes me, I’ve sampled many jobs, Zoox is up there with Google in terms of what the experience feels like in my experience. 3. Yay again!
- AtlasBarfed 1y agoWhere is a comprehensive test demonstration and rating by an insurance and federal agency? Utterly disturbing announcements and rollouts like this aren't prominently linked with comprehensive testing videos. "We're a tech company, just trust us" The only thing I like about this is the potential to make Tesla look bad.
- SpaceNoodled 1y agoIf only they had a website https://zoox.com/journal/crash-testing https://zoox.com/journal/crash-testing
- AtlasBarfed 1y agoThat's a crash test. Do you think I care about the people IN the car? Self-driving is about the safety of the people OUTSIDE of the car.
- Animats 1y agoThose would be useful in Tesla's tunnel system.
- stevage 1y agoIt's not Tesla's
- macleginn 1y ago“From immersive shows and world-class dining to major sporting events and luxury shopping, there is something special for everyone.” – an interesting way to describe Las Vegas.
- Mistletoe 1y agoWe are getting so close to the Total Recall taxi. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yueCu8z7l4g https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yueCu8z7l4g
- cedws 1y agoWhy does it need a moronic design? We’ve already spent 100 years perfecting car design for crash resistance. Why are there no crumple zones?
- SpaceNoodled 1y agohttps://zoox.com/journal/crash-testing https://zoox.com/journal/crash-testing