Amazon.com Inc.‘s AMZN self-driving subsidiary Zoox is scaling up its presence in California as the autonomous vehicle race accelerates, potentially strengthening its position against domestic and international competitors.
What Happened: Zoox will open a new production facility in California’s Bay Area to significantly expand its robotaxi fleet beyond its current small Fremont operation, co-founder Jesse Levinson told the Financial Times.
The company plans to begin public rides in Las Vegas this year followed by San Francisco, with production ramping up substantially in 2026.
“We’ll have a lot more [vehicles] by the end of the year. And then next year is when we really start what we call serial production,” Levinson said, adding the new site will prepare Zoox to produce “hundreds and then thousands” of its custom-built robotaxis.
The company highlighted its California manufacturing as a strategic advantage, with Levinson stating: “We’re happy to be a California company actually manufacturing vehicles in California. There isn’t a lot of that right now.”
Why It Matters: The expansion comes as Zoox positions itself as one of the few alternatives to Alphabet Inc.’s GOOGL GOOG Waymo, which has already completed over 2 million paid robotaxi rides across multiple U.S. cities.
Since Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.2-1.3 billion in 2020, the venture has grown from 100 employees to approximately 2,500. Zoox’s unique approach features purpose-built vehicles with no steering wheel, pedals or driver’s seat, designed as driver-less from inception.
The production expansion follows President Donald Trump‘s administration’s recent announcement to loosen regulations for self-driving car deployment amid growing competition from China’s BYD and other autonomous vehicle developers.
Zoox will compete not only with Waymo but also with Tesla Inc. TSLA, which aims to roll out its “Cybercabs” in Austin, Texas, this year with mass production beginning next year.
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Image Via Zoox
Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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