Amazon Startup Unveils ‘Robotaxi,’ The Autonomous Electric Car That Could Replace Taxi Drivers In The Near Future

Zoox, a startup owned by Amazon, has revealed its latest project called ‘robotaxi’, an autonomous electric car that could replace taxi drivers in the digital age

Zoox, an autonomous electric vehicle company that Amazon purchased in June, has finally unveiled its robotaxi after six years of twisted and secret prototypes. While it resembles many first-generation autonomous vehicles from automakers and Silicon Valley startups, Zoox’s robotaxi has some standout features.

Related Articles

• Work from Home: Quality Nextech Offers 130 Job Openings for IT Professionals
• 300 Job Openings Are Open at Totvs for Home Office Positions in Marketing, IT, HR, and More
• Arktika Icebreaker, the Largest and Most Powerful Vessel in the World’s Nuclear Fleet, Enters Service Today in Russia
• MME, ANM and BNDES Sign Cooperation Agreement for the Mining Sector
• CSN Mining Has Job Openings for the City of Congonhas

Amazon’s Autonomous Electric Car: Could It Threaten Taxi Drivers’ Jobs?

The “carriage-style” autonomous electric car is a fully autonomous four-wheeled vehicle that accommodates up to four people and bears a resemblance to vehicles created by other companies in the space. Measuring just 3.63 meters in length, it falls somewhere between the large and boxy Cruise Origin robotaxi (owned by General Motors) and the delivery-focused robot built by the automaker Nuro.

To further differentiate itself, Zoox has spent the past few years working to equip its autonomous electric car with the ability to drive forwards and backwards, and side to side, or “bidirectionally.” Combined with four-wheel steering functionality, Zoox claims that its vehicle will be capable of handling precise maneuvers, such as “tight sidewalk turns” and “complicated inclines.” Zoox also states that its vehicle is the first of its kind capable of traveling at speeds of up to 75 mph, a potential nod to ambitions of one day putting vehicles on the road.

Recomendado para você

Oil and Gas

Major Oil, Gas, and Energy Event Will Take Place in Brazil: Macaé Energy Will Gather Petrobras, Equinor, Prio, Among Other Suppliers and Energy Executives for Business, Networking, and Employment Opportunities

The Technical Agenda and the Fair in the City of Macaé Should Boost Discussions on Investments, Energy Transition, and Development of the Oil, Gas, and Energy Chain in the National...

Paulo Nogueira

1

Amazon emphasizes that the purpose of its project is not to put an end to taxi drivers’ jobs, but rather to demonstrate the limits of technology and to become a short-distance ride service through rideshare apps.

Cutting-Edge Technology

Like most early autonomous vehicles, Zoox’s robotaxi is equipped with a lot of safety technology. There is a crown of six LIDAR discs on top, in addition to various sensors and radar cameras. Zoox highlights that this provides a 270-degree field of view at each corner, virtually eliminating blind spots, as well as providing redundancy in the event of a sensor failure. The sensor suite allows the vehicle to see objects up to 150 meters away.

The interior of the vehicle is less high-tech. The cozy inward-facing seats (hence the term “carriage-style”) are surrounded by what appears to be textured fabric. The seats also conceal what the company claims is a radical reworking of how airbags function. There are cup holders and wireless charging mats between the seats. And the ceiling features a starlight pattern, commonly seen in luxury vehicles like the Rolls Royce Ghost. A small touchscreen at each seat is the most advanced technology found inside the vehicle.

Zoox’s Robotaxi Arrives on the Market Equipped with a 133 kWh Battery, More Powerful Than Those in Tesla’s Electric Cars

The robotaxi is powered by a 133 kWh battery, which is slightly larger than the batteries currently powering Tesla’s strongest vehicles. The company points out that the batteries will provide 16 hours of continuous use.

This should be sufficient to help Zoox and Amazon start achieving their collective goal of creating an autonomous ride-hailing service. It is a goal that Zoox has pursued since its founding in 2014 and sought in near theatrical secrecy before stumbling into a public fight with its co-founder and CEO in 2018, leading to his ousting. The company is testing prototypes of its autonomous vehicle in San Francisco and Foster City, California, as well as in Las Vegas, Nevada.