Amazon expands its robotaxi testing to two new US cities
In the battle for supremacy in the nascent robotaxi space, Tesla, Inc. (TSLA) might be falling even further behind its rivals.
Although Amazon's (AMZN) Zoox doesn't garner the same headlines as Tesla and Alphabet's (GOOG) Waymo, it could be on its way to becoming a bigger player in the highly competitive fight to grab market share in the autonomous vehicle industry.
Amazon said Monday that it is expanding the testing of its Zoox robotaxi to Dallas and Phoenix, making it 10 American cities where it is testing its service.
In addition to its newest cities, the company is also testing the Zoox in Austin, Seattle, Los Angeles, Miami, Atlanta, Las Vegas, Washington D.C. and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Amazon will begin its testing in Dallas and Phoenix by first deploying its Zoox testing fleet, which are retrofitted SUVs, that will focus on manual mapping before beginning autonomous testing. The testing fleet has a driver behind the wheel who can disengage the AI at any point.
Once this step is complete, Amazon will then begin testing their purpose-built robotaxis in the two cities.
In addition to the expansion of its robotaxi testing, Amazon has opened its third Zoox Fusion Center facility in Scottsdale, Arizona. The Fusion Center serves as the command center for the Zoox fleet operations, providing teleguidance, Mission Control and rider support.
The company also has Fusion Centers in Las Vegas and the San Francisco Bay Area.
Amazon's expansion of its robotaxi testing comes after Waymo announced last month that it was expanding its autonomous vehicle service into four new US cities: Dallas, Houston, San Antonio and Orlando. That brings its total commercial areas in the US to 10.
Far and away the AV leader in America up to this point, Waymo is expected to add 18 additional cities in the United States by the end of 2026. The company noted that its vehicles have now traveled over 200 million fully autonomous miles in the US.
Tesla does not currently operate driverless taxis in any US city. Even more troubling for the company is that it is currently only testing its service in its home base of Austin, Texas, which pales in comparison to the progress Amazon is making in expanding its testing across the US.
Elon Musk has made plenty of bold predictions for Tesla's robotaxi service that have failed to materialize, including telling investors on the company's Q2 earnings call back in July that Tesla would "probably have autonomous ride hailing in probably half the population of the US by the end of the year," which it did not come close to achieving.
Even his most modest prediction - that Tesla would have driverless robotaxis operating in the company's home city of Austin, Texas by the end of last year - never happened.
But Musk does not seem to be deterred by thus far missing all of the production targets he's claimed his company would meet.
Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Dabos, Switzerland in January, Musk predicted that Tesla's rollout of robotaxi service in the United States "will be very, very widespread" by the end of this year.