A new milestone has arrived for driverless transport in the United States. The robotaxi company Zoox has been given the green light to begin paid robotaxi rides in its vehicles, moving the service a step closer to a commercial operation rather than a purely experimental one. The approval places Zoox among the companies pushing to turn autonomous rides into a paying business.
What sets the service apart is the design of the vehicles themselves. According to the account, the Zoox vehicles feature four inward-facing seats but no steering wheel, a layout that departs from a conventional car. Instead of a driver's position at the front, passengers sit facing one another inside a cabin built specifically for rides without a human at the wheel.
The vehicles have already spent time on public roads ahead of this step. They were tested on the streets of Las Vegas and San Francisco last year, two cities that have become testing grounds for autonomous vehicle technology. That period of testing laid the groundwork for the shift now taking place toward paid service.
The significance of the latest approval lies in what it unlocks financially. The federal approval is important to these companies because it means Zoox can start charging its customers, turning the rides into a source of revenue. Until now, the trips the company has offered in Las Vegas and San Francisco have all been free.
Passengers who have tried the service have shared mixed but largely positive first impressions. One rider said it was kind of scary the first time, but that once they got used to it, it was very cool. Others pointed to the music and the ability to adjust the temperature, and to feeling comfortable with only passengers, and no driver, inside the ride.
The rides could soon change in another way as well. The government has proposed a rule to allow robotaxis to operate without brake pedals, a further step away from the features of a traditional car. That proposal, however, is still pending, leaving the potential change to the vehicles for a later stage as the technology and the rules around it continue to develop.