Five years after Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3 billion, the company has officially launched its first public robotaxi service in the U.S., beginning Wednesday on the Las Vegas Strip.

The initial rollout includes free rides from select pickup points, with plans to expand service across the city in the coming months. Zoox says it will begin charging riders once regulatory approval is secured.

Challenging Waymo’s Lead
Amazon is entering a competitive space long dominated by Alphabet’s Waymo, which has offered paid, driverless rides since 2020. Earlier this year, Waymo announced it had completed over 10 million paid rides and now operates in five U.S. cities, with Dallas, Denver, Miami, Seattle, and Washington, D.C. set to follow in 2026.

Tesla has also begun testing a limited robotaxi service in Austin, Texas, though human supervisors remain in the vehicles.

A Different Kind of Robotaxi
Unlike Waymo and Tesla, Zoox’s electric, purpose-built robotaxi does not resemble a traditional car. With no steering wheel or pedals, its rectangular “toaster on wheels” design maximizes passenger space and redefines the ride-hailing experience.

“You can shoehorn a robotaxi into something that used to be a car. It’s just not an ideal solution,” Zoox co-founder and CTO Jesse Levinson told CNBC. “We wanted to invest in something built from the ground up—and bring a vehicle to market that’s better than a car.”

Expansion Plans
Following Las Vegas, Zoox plans to launch an early rider program in San Francisco before the end of 2025. The company has already been testing a fleet of 50 robotaxis across San Francisco and Las Vegas.

Next, Zoox will expand testing to Austin and Miami, while retrofitted test vehicles are already driving in Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Seattle.

“We think it’s very, very early days, and the future is not written yet,” Levinson said during a demo ride.

With its Las Vegas debut, Amazon’s Zoox joins the growing robotaxi race, positioning itself as a serious challenger to Waymo and Tesla in shaping the future of urban mobility.