Amazon Zoox Robotaxi Units Will Start Further Trials In Two Cities In The US

Robotaxi Zoox. (Doc. Zoox)

JAKARTA - Amazon.com robotics unit Zoox announced plans to start testing its autonomous vehicles in Austin, Texas, and Miami. It is known that these two locations were their first trials outside the western region of the United States (US).

Launching Reuters, June 7, Zoox will use a modified trial fleet of Toyota Highlander, with human safety drivers. Trials will be carried out in small areas near business and entertainment districts in both cities.

Previously, Zoox had tested their own autonomous vehicles in California and Nevada, the vehicles were designed without steering wheel and pedals, and had room for four passengers in a face-to-face position.

Austin and Miami will be the fourth and fifth public testing locations for Zoox, after they previously operated in San Francisco, Las Vegas, and Seattle.

Zoox says it will not offer robotaxi services to the public in Austin and Miami, but is exploring several cities for commercial launches following their initial launches on its Las Vegas and San Francisco target market.

Apart from Zoox, other self-driving robotaxi companies such as Alphabet's General Motors (GM) and Waymo (GOOGL) cruises are also facing investigations by NHTSA regarding the performance of their self-driving cars.

Please note, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) is also investigating 500 Zoox vehicles equipped with an automatic driving system after two previous accidents. This accident was due to unexpected braking that caused two collisions from behind.

"This risk is very acute for road users behind Zoox vehicles who cannot anticipate or react naturally to unexpected sudden braking," reads NHTSA's statement, late May.