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Thu 19 Jun 2025
Amazon’s driverless taxi subsidiary Zoox has opened its first production facility for purpose-built robotaxis in the US and hopes to build more than 10,000 a year.
Amazon bought the start-up in 2020 for $1.2bn (£890m) with the intention of eventually launching a service akin to Google’s Waymo. Waymo began taking rides for its first commercial service in San Francisco in 2021, while Zoox is gearing up to start public rides in Las Vegas later this year, with San Francisco to follow.
The firm’s 220,000 square foot ‘state-of-the-art’ production facility is located in Hayward, California, and Zoox said it would be used for engineering, software integration, robotaxi assembly and storage components. The assembly line has also been designed to be adaptable to accommodate future design and feature changes.
“In an assembly facility focused on building autonomous robots, our Zoox crew remains an essential part of the manufacturing process,” the firm said in a blog post.
“Robots on the floor are primarily used for specific tasks, such as applying adhesive for glass installation (which requires precision to avoid leaks and smudges) and transporting the robotaxi down the assembly line, ensuring a smooth and efficient workflow. The rest is done manually.”
Waymo is currently leading the expanding driverless taxi industry, having already established services in Los Angeles, San Francisco, Austin and Phoenix. Last year, the firm revealed its sixth-generation robotaxi with a reduced sensor suite designed to lower the high manufacturing costs of its vehicles.
It has about 700 vehicles in its fleet, the hardware and software for which it develops from the ground up, and is the only US firm operating driverless robotaxis that collect fares. Although Uber has also launched a service in Austin, Texas, it has so far used Waymo’s vehicles instead of rolling out its own.
Uber is also looking to launch a service in the UK – originally aiming for a 2026 launch date although this was later delayed to the second half of 2027. Earlier this month, the firm said it was accelerating its framework for small autonomous “bus- and taxi-like” commercial services to get them under way earlier.
It is not yet clear whether the vehicles in Uber’s trial will be available for customers to use as the firm is still working out the details.
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