LAS VEGAS — During CES 2025 last week, Mike Oitzman, senior editor at The Robot Report, was invited to a demonstration ride in a Zoox Inc. robotic taxicab. He was joined by Mike White, chief product officer of Zoox, for a interview during the ride around the Las Vegas Strip.
The Foster City, Calif.-based company recently announced that it is testing its vehicles in San Francisco. Its vehicle, which has no traditional steering wheel or driver, is currently offering free rides to Zoox employees and guests.
The robotaxi features individual climate control, music selection, and a quiet, all-electric design. Zoox said its vehicle can operate for 16 hours and navigate through dynamic environments such as construction zones and city streets.
It boasts four-wheel steering and bi-directional capabilities, enhancing pickup and drop-off efficiency, said the company. The ride experience emphasizes passenger comfort and control, aiming to transform mobility by providing a serene and customizable journey.
There is no human driver or even a safety driver in this Zoox vehicle. In fact, there’s no steering wheel. But are we being monitored by a human in your operations center?
White: Yes, all our vehicles are monitored. There’s always a human in the loop. And so I think more importantly, if you want to talk to somebody, you can also hit the HELP button. And if you hit that, somebody (from our Zoox operations center) will answer and ask, “Hey, Mike, what’s going on? Everything okay? Do you need anything?”
So we always want to keep a human in the loop. And we think that’s important for a lot of reasons, but most importantly, just a better customer experience, just to feel that you have some sort of connection with people (if needed).
Who can ride with the service in Las Vegas right now?
White: So right now, we’re taking people hosted by Zoox employees. And then we will start working with our “Zoox Explorers,” and we’ll give them free rides within Las Vegas.
We want this to be your vehicle, right? We want our rider to have the agency of the vehicle, and be able to configure the cabin and play their own music playlist. If you want quiet, just put it in quiet mode. If you want to work during the commute or have a meeting, you can do that.
The vehicle is bi-directional and has four-wheel steering. What advantages does that provide?
White: With a bi-directional platform, we don’t have to pull into a spot and then back out going forward. The other thing that we are interested is in the pickup and dropoff points within the resorts because those lanes change dynamically, as we’ve seen some of the construction.
If there’s an event at a resort, they’ll want rideshare over here, and other days, they want it over here. And so for us to be able to manage that, and we can leverage bi-directionality, this is a huge advantage for us.
Listen to the entire interview in the video above.
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