Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company, has expanded its commercial robotaxi service to include rides to and from Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas. Customers can now hail a ride to the airport starting Thursday. The move aims to capture a strategic destination, following a series of recent successes for the company.
Based in Silicon Valley, Zoox has spent over a decade developing its self-driving system and a custom robotaxi without traditional controls like a steering wheel or pedals. Although it has been offering rides in Las Vegas for a year, it was only recently granted a temporary exemption from certain motor vehicle safety standards by federal regulators, enabling it to charge for rides and expand its operations.
This expansion appears to give Zoox an edge over traditional ride-hailing giants Uber and Lyft. Its robotaxis can pick up and drop off riders at both airport terminals near baggage claim, a perk not available to their competitors, who can only drop passengers off at the curb near the terminal.
Zoox is the sole robotaxi service operating at the Las Vegas airport, but competition is on the horizon. The city, a long-standing testing ground for autonomous vehicle companies, is poised to be flooded with commercial robotaxis in the coming year. Tesla, Uber and Waymo have all received permits to operate in Clark County, with Uber partnering with Hyundai subsidiary Motional and Zoox to deploy up to 8,000 robotaxis in the region.







