Amazon-owned Zoox has achieved a significant milestone in its journey toward launching a fully autonomous robotaxi service in the United States. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) has granted Zoox a key exemption from certain federal vehicle safety standards, allowing the company to legally demonstrate and operate its purpose-built driverless vehicles on public roads.
This development follows the closure of a 2023 safety probe into Zoox’s self-certification practices. The exemption, issued under the recently expanded Automated Vehicle Exemption Program, marks the first time a U.S.-built autonomous vehicle has been approved under the revised guidelines. Previously, the program applied only to imported vehicles.
As a condition of the exemption, Zoox must remove any prior claims that its vehicles comply with all Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards. This requirement highlights the unique design of the Zoox robotaxi—an electric, bidirectional vehicle built from the ground up without traditional features such as steering wheels, pedals, or mirrors.
Founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, Zoox has distinguished itself by developing an autonomous ride-hailing vehicle that doesn’t retrofit existing car models, but rather introduces an entirely new platform optimized for autonomy. The vehicle is equipped with a sophisticated sensor suite, including lidar, radar, thermal imaging, microphones to detect emergency vehicles, and digital cameras—similar to those used by Waymo, but in a custom-designed form factor.
Zoox recently opened a state-of-the-art manufacturing facility in Hayward, California, which will serve as the production hub for its toaster-shaped robotaxis.
The company aims to produce up to 10,000 units annually at full capacity, with the first commercial deployments planned for Las Vegas later in 2025. Additional cities on the roadmap include San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Miami, and Atlanta.
