After its acquisition from Amazon in June, Zoox finally gives birth to its robotaxi. Unfortunately, it might take more time for us to actually experience riding in one.
Details on the new robotaxi, Zoox
Zoox is an electric self-driving taxi that allows four passengers maximum. Equipped with 133kWh battery packs, the robotaxi can operate for 16 hours long. To give a more autonomous vehicle experience, Zoox does not have a steering wheel. The body is shorter than most of other cars with only 143 inches long. The short body design is to assure flexible maneuver in narrow spaces and direction changes.
To assure its safety on the road, Zoox also installs lidar, radar, and cameras at all four corners to eliminate any blind spots. Additionally, Chef Technology Officer Jesse Levinson told Bloomberg that the vehicle “has passed all the FMVSS crash tests”, referring to the compulsory tests for U.S. regulators.
While Zoox is not the first company to launch an autonomous vehicle, Zoox was one of the initiators for such vehicles. Back in 2014, Zoox was even ridiculed for its ambition on developing autonomous vehicle.
Amazon keeps the launch date for Zoox a secret
While Zoox has exposed the complete detail on the autonomous taxi, Amazon won’t reveal the official launch date of the robotaxi. However, Bloomberg‘s report mentioned that the launch will not happen in 2021.
Accordingly, Zoox is considering to develop an app for the commercializing the technology. The countries that Zoox currently have in radar are San Fransisco and Las Vegas. In the future, Zoox expects to provide the service to other countries as well. Zoox has not disclosed how much will it cost to experience the robotaxi. But, the company promises that it would be affordable.
Read also: Hyundai to Acquire Robot Innovator Boston Dynamics
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