Amazon-backed autonomous vehicle company Zoox will begin testing its self-driving technology in Atlanta, Georgia, later this summer after completing initial mapping of the city’s streets, the company told TechCrunch on Tuesday.
Atlanta becomes the seventh U.S. city where Zoox is deploying its autonomous vehicle program, signaling the firm’s steady expansion of its robotaxi initiative. The announcement comes just a day after rival Waymo, in partnership with Uber, said it would begin offering limited robotaxi rides in Atlanta as it gears up for a broader public rollout.
Zoox is employing a phased approach to introducing its self-driving vehicles. In new cities like Atlanta, the company starts with conventional vehicles — typically modified Toyota Highlanders — to gather data on road geometry and infrastructure such as traffic signals. This data enables the company to fine-tune its autonomous systems before deploying its custom-designed robotaxis.
While Zoox has not yet revealed when its purpose-built autonomous vehicles will operate in Atlanta, it has been testing those vehicles without a safety driver in cities like Foster City and San Francisco, California, as well as Las Vegas, Nevada. The company has said it plans to launch public robotaxi services in San Francisco and Las Vegas by the end of 2025.
Zoox has encountered and addressed software challenges along the way. The company issued recalls in March and May to implement software updates aimed at resolving issues discovered during testing. These updates reflect the company’s ongoing efforts to enhance safety and performance before broader deployment.
“We’re continuing our methodical rollout city by city as we validate and improve our technology,” a Zoox spokesperson told TechCrunch, without providing a specific timeline for Atlanta’s public ride availability.