Zoox Gets First-Ever Federal Approval to Charge Customers for its Robotaxi Service

Amazon’s self-driving car unit Zoox has been the first company ever to get a commericial approval from the NHTSA to operate a robo-taxi service and charge customers for rides. They will be allowed to deploy a fleet of up to 2,500 vehicles per year, starting in Las Vegas “soon.” NHTSA has issued an exemption to 8 safety standards and have given them a license for two years.

The exciting part is that they have laid out a framework that companies can use to make money from fully autonomous (no steering wheel or pedals) vehicles in the US. This is the first case in the country where a company has been allowed to do so. Waymo has made money from their service for quite some time but only had permission through state licenses. Now we have an example to follow on the federal level.