Amazon Just Launched Its Zoox Robotaxis In Las Vegas And We Took A Ride [10:00]

YouTube ^ | September 10, 2025 | CNBC

[SunkenCiv]

Five years after its $1.3 billion acquisition of Zoox, Amazon has officially entered the U.S. robotaxi race, which to date has been dominated by Alphabet’s Waymo. Zoox’s first public launch kicks off today on the Las Vegas strip. The company is offering free rides from a few select locations, with plans to expand more broadly across the city in the coming months. Riders will eventually have to pay, but Zoox said it’s waiting on regulatory approval to take that step. Amazon is jumping into a market that’s all about the future, but one where Waymo has a major head start, having offered commercial driverless rides since 2020 in multiple cities around the U.S. Tesla, meanwhile, began testing a limited robotaxi service in Austin in June, though with human supervisors on board. 

But unlike Waymo and Tesla, Zoox’s electric robotaxi doesn’t resemble a car. There’s no steering wheel or pedals. Zoox has spent the past decade developing the symmetrical EV, which it manufactures in California. CNBC’s Salvador Rodriguez got an exclusive ride along in the autonomous vehicle with Zoox co-founder and technology chief Jesse Levinson, and spoke with Zoox CEO Aicha Evans, to find out why this launch is such a big step for the company.

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TOPICS: Business/Economy; Travel
KEYWORDS: amazon; lasvegas; nevada; robotaxi; robotaxis; tesla; waymo; zoox

[SunkenCiv]

Amazon Just Launched Its Zoox Robotaxis In Las Vegas And We Took A Ride | 10:00 
CNBC | 4.02M subscribers | 623,856 views | September 10, 2025

[SunkenCiv]

"You're in a Johnny Cab..."

[SunkenCiv]

from the FRchives:

• AI Mishap Embarrasses Kamala [semi-satire] [06/15/2025]
• Your New Life Of Driverless Cars [06/11/2025]
• Waymo suspends service in parts of L.A. after its robotaxis torched [06/09/2025]
• Waymo vehicles set on fire in downtown L.A. as protesters, police clash [06/08/2025]
• 🚨BREAKING: Several Waymo vehicles have been torched by rioters in Los Angeles. [06/08/2025]
• Defenseless Waymo cars have been vandalised and set on fire in the LA protests [06/08/2025]
• Santa Monica residents go to war against Waymo, including obstructing driverless taxis [05/29/2025]
• Elon Musk says Starlink was approved in Saudi Arabia [05/13/2025]
• Tesla sparks firestorm after bold defense of self-driving tech: 'Car does it all for you' [05/05/2025]
• Alphabet shares rise on stronger-than-expected revenue growth [Google] [04/24/2025]
• The next driver you cut off on the freeway may be invisible [01/28/2025]
• Teamsters Charge Waymo {Google} with Violating San Francisco Anti-Corruption Law [10/27/2024]
• Cruise Rival Waymo Touts Driverless Cars As Safer Than Human-Driven Cars [09/17/2024]
• Self-driving cars are gathering at night to honk at each other [08/17/2024]
• Tesla FSD Beta -- v12.3.3 Supervised Rolling Out [04/07/2024]
• Man arrested in L.A. for trying to steal Waymo robotaxi [03/03/2024]
• San Francisco vandals destroy robotaxi, set it ablaze with fireworks on the street [02/11/2024]
• Waymo robotaxi goes up in flames in Chinatown after crowd attacks vehicle [02/11/2024]
• Self-Driving Disaster: GM's Cruise Robotaxi Division Announces Layoff of 24% of Workforce [12/15/2023]
• GM's Cruise laying off 900 employees, or 24% of its workforce: Read the memo here [12/15/2023]
• Uber was supposed to help traffic. It didn't. Robotaxis will be even worse [09/19/2023]
• WATCH: Viral Video Shows Person Attacking SF Robotaxi with Hammer [09/12/2023]
• Waymo puts the brakes on self-driving trucks program [07/28/2023]
• Man arrested for blowing up PG&E transformers in San Jose, police say [03/04/2023]
• A self-driving taxi went rogue, blocking traffic and evading officials, as a YouTuber captured it on video from the backseat [05/14/2021]
• Intel/MobilEye Promises Self-Driving Robotaxi Service In 2022, While Others Back Off [05/23/2020]
• A Ride In Waymo's Fully Driverless Car [01/12/2020]
• Waymo One, the first commercial robotaxi service, is now picking up passengers in Arizona [12/05/2018]
• Waymo strikes deals with Walmart, others to boost access to self-driving cars [07/26/2018]
• Self-driving vehicle involved in 5-car crash [06/20/2018]
• Dear Uber, et al. Vehicles need human drivers [03/20/2018]
• Waymo now testing its self-driving cars on public roads with no one at the wheel [11/07/2017]
• In Self-Driving Race, Waymo Sets Its Own Terms [11/02/2017]

[LegendHasIt]

How long before someone hacks the dang things, either/or/both individually or system wide and does something nefarious with it?

[Liz]

Zoox robotaxi.

[FrankRizzo890]

The vehicle numbers need to all start with “GAD”

[rexthecat]

There’s no need to go to Las Vegas anymore with Indian casinos around every corner. Hotel bookings and gambling receipts in Vegas are crashing. Driver-less cars can’t save them.

[AnotherUnixGeek]

There’s no need to go to Las Vegas anymore with Indian casinos around every corner.

I don't gamble and go to Vegas for the shows. But the entire Strip is really run down these days - the Wynn still leads the pack and it's all downhill from there.

[drwoof]

HaHaHaHa!!! Thanks for the early morning chuckle!

[Tommy Revolts]

[HartleyMBaldwin]

Looks like you could replace the wheels with carrying poles and have a pretty good sedan chair. Maybe a little heavy, though.