Amazon’s Zoox launches its robotaxi service in Las Vegas

Advertisement

Advertise with us

Amazon's Zoox on Wednesday launched its robotaxi service in Las Vegas, offering free rides through parts of the entertainment mecca for anyone willing to gamble on the safety of a driverless vehicle that operates without a steering wheel.

Read this article for free:


or

Already have an account? Log in here »

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Subscribe and receive a limited-edition Free Press branded hat or tote.

Digital Subscription

One year of digital access for only $205*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles

*First annual payment billed as $205.00 + GST for one year. This annual subscription will automatically renew at $233.00 + GST every 52 weeks (10% off the regular annual price of $259.35). Offer available to new and qualified returning subscribers only. Cancel any time.

To continue reading, please subscribe:

Add Free Press access to your Brandon Sun subscription for only an additional

$1 for the first 4 weeks*

  • Enjoy unlimited reading on winnipegfreepress.com
  • Read the E-Edition, our digital replica newspaper
  • Access News Break, our award-winning app
  • Play interactive puzzles
Start now

*Your next Brandon Sun subscription payment will increase by $1.00 and you will be charged $17.95 plus GST for four weeks. After four weeks, your payment will increase to $24.95 plus GST every four weeks.

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 10/09/2025 (378 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Amazon’s Zoox on Wednesday launched its robotaxi service in Las Vegas, offering free rides through parts of the entertainment mecca for anyone willing to gamble on the safety of a driverless vehicle that operates without a steering wheel.

The Las Vegas debut of Zoox’s long-planned ride-hailing service reflects Amazon-owned robotaxi maker’s confidence in the safety of its boxy vehicles after two years of testing them in the city.

The robotaxis initially were only available to employees in Las Vegas before gradually expanding to friends and family members. Now, anyone with the Zoox app will be able to request a ride to five designated locations, including Resorts World, the Luxor hotel and the New York-New York hotel. The longest distance the Zoox robotaxis will travel is about three miles (4.8 kilometers) while carrying up to four passengers.

Amazon-Zoox robotaxis are beginning to give free rides through parts of Las Vegas as part of its driverless service's launch. (Zoox Inc. via AP)
Amazon-Zoox robotaxis are beginning to give free rides through parts of Las Vegas as part of its driverless service's launch. (Zoox Inc. via AP)

All rides will be provided for free for at least the first few months to help promote the existence of the service in the perennially popular travel destination. Once it begins charging for rides in Las Vegas, Zoox says its prices will be comparable to traditional taxis and ride-hailing services like Uber and Lyft.

Zoox can afford to give free rides largely because of Amazon’s deep pockets. The e-commerce powerhouse, currently worth $2.5 trillion, bought Zoox for $1.2 billion five years ago as part of its efforts to establish a foothold in other fields of technology.

The Las Vegas market marks Zoox’s first step in its attempt to catch up with robotaxi leader Waymo, a Google spin-off that offers that already provides driverless rides in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, Phoenix, Atlanta and Austin, Texas (where Tesla is still in the testing phase of a robotaxi service that its CEO, Elon Musk, has been hyping for the past decade).

While Waymo implants its driverless technology in vehicles built by traditional automakers, Zoox is manufacturing its distinctively designed robotaxis in a former bus factory located in Hayward, California — about 25 miles (40 kilometers) southeast of San Francisco.

In a sign of its ambitions, Zoox hopes to manufacture as many as 10,000 robotaxis annually as it expands into other markets. While the company is currently testing its vehicles in San Francisco, it hopes to open up its service to all passengers next year. Some San Francisco passengers who signed up for Zoox’s testing program are expected to be able to start getting driverless rides before the end of this year.

Zoox is currently operating about 50 vehicles in Las Vegas and San Francisco, with most of them in Nevada for now. After it starts charging for rides in San Francisco, Zoox hopes to expand to Austin and Miami next.

Report Error Submit a Tip

More Stories

Woman who fled abuse decries lack of consequences for landlord who breached lease-breaking confidentiality

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Preview

Woman who fled abuse decries lack of consequences for landlord who breached lease-breaking confidentiality

Carol Sanders 5 minute read Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

The provincial government is being asked to penalize landlords who breach the confidentiality of tenants breaking a lease to flee domestic violence after a survivor discovered there’s no consequences now.

“It put me in a very difficult situation,” said the woman, who was stunned to see that her landlord copied her abuser in email correspondence, including the domestic violence certificate she obtained to end a tenancy agreement early and leave an abusive relationship.

“My heart dropped to my stomach — I was in disbelief,” she said, recalling the confidentiality breach that occurred in 2025.

“I’m very lucky to be in a situation where it’s no longer a threat to my immediate safety.”

Read
Yesterday at 6:00 AM CDT

Driver of stolen vehicle facing impairment, other charges after fatal high-speed crash in West Kildonan Sunday

Scott Billeck 2 minute read Preview

Driver of stolen vehicle facing impairment, other charges after fatal high-speed crash in West Kildonan Sunday

Scott Billeck 2 minute read Yesterday at 1:06 PM CDT

A 19-year-old man faces impaired driving and other charges after a crash involving a stolen vehicle in north Winnipeg killed a 20-year-old woman and another left another woman with life-threatening injuries.

Read
Yesterday at 1:06 PM CDT

Province paid three men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg homicide $4 million apiece

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read Preview

Province paid three men wrongfully convicted in 1973 Winnipeg homicide $4 million apiece

Morgan Modjeski 3 minute read 6:57 PM CDT

More than five decades after their lives were derailed by a racist justice system, the provincial government has paid millions of dollars to three men who were wrongfully convicted in a 1973 Winnipeg homicide.

Clarence Woodhouse, Allan Woodhouse (no relation) and Brian Anderson were wrongfully convicted of murdering restaurant worker Ting Fong Chan in 1974.

The ruling was reversed in 2024 for Clarence Woodhouse, when he was acquitted by Manitoba Court of King’s Bench Chief Justice Glenn Joyal, and in 2023 for both Allan Woodhouse and Anderson. Russell Woodhouse, Clarence’s brother, was also subjected to a miscarriage of justice — he was wrongfully convicted of manslaughter — but died in 2011.

Canada’s first post-mortem conviction review has since been called into his case.

Read
6:57 PM CDT

Kinew ‘open to everything’ after Bell’s 911 failures

Chris Kitching 4 minute read Preview

Kinew ‘open to everything’ after Bell’s 911 failures

Chris Kitching 4 minute read 4:32 PM CDT

Premier Wab Kinew signalled Tuesday he’s open to all potential options, including switching 911 providers, if feasible, after a series of outages in Manitoba.

Kinew, who’s spoken to Bell Canada CEO Mirko Bibic and Prime Minister Mark Carney about Manitoba’s 911 service, said the government and the telecom continue to have a “back and forth.”

“At this stage, we’re open to everything,” Kinew said of potential steps to ensure the service is reliable. “The No. 1, I think, baseline is that when you dial 911, you’re going to get through to the help you need, whether that’s an ambulance or fire truck or police.”

Kinew said he’s looking forward to receiving Bell’s draft report to learn the cause of the most recent outage, which occurred Thursday and affected five other provinces where the telecom provides 911 service.

Read
4:32 PM CDT

‘Wild, wild summer’: storms produce all-time number of damage claims at MPI

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read Preview

‘Wild, wild summer’: storms produce all-time number of damage claims at MPI

Nicole Buffie 5 minute read 6:34 PM CDT

More than 40,000 storm-related claims have been opened with Manitoba Public Insurance stemming from summer storms, marking a historic high.

The June 9 storm in Winnipeg and the surrounding area drove a record-setting volume, making it the largest single claim event in MPI’s history.

The data is still rolling in, but the losses from the weather are likely in the hundreds of millions of dollars, according to MPI’s vice-president and chief claims officer John Bowering.

“In my career here a storm in 5,000 to 10,000 (claims) was considered a major storm… so to have a single storm at 34,000 and a summer where we’re going to exceed 40,000 is monumental and quite hard to wrap my head around,” he said Tuesday.

Read
6:34 PM CDT

Even dozen running for mayor as nomination deadline passes

Malak Abas 2 minute read Preview

Even dozen running for mayor as nomination deadline passes

Malak Abas 2 minute read 6:25 PM CDT

It’s official — a dozen people are running to become Winnipeg’s next mayor.

The deadline to both register to run as a candidate in October’s municipal election and file nomination papers was 4:30 p.m. Tuesday.

The final list of mayoral candidates includes: incumbent Scott Gillingham, Kevin Klein, Brad Gross, Mazher Alam, Mike Vogiatzakis, Christopher Clacio, Umar Hayat, Don Woodstock, Joshua Pagdato, Johnny Calderon, Noah Redden, and Tracey Drexler.

A total of 17 had registered to run but several either withdrew or did not meet the requirements to continue. Those included: Zachary Uminski, Ed Ackerman, Gagandeep Bawa, Abdel-Kareem Chehadi and Joaquin Sandul.

Read
6:25 PM CDT