Amazon’s Zoox to start testing AVs in Atlanta, following Waymo

Amazon’s autonomous automobile unit Zoox is about to begin testing its self-driving automobiles in Atlanta, Georgia, a precursor to finally providing public rides within the metropolis.

Zoox instructed TechCrunch on Tuesday that it has accomplished the “preliminary mapping part” in Atlanta and can start autonomous driving later this summer time.

Atlanta is the seventh city within the U.S. the place Zoox is testing its automobiles. The corporate introduced its testing plans simply sooner or later after Waymo — together with companion Uber — said it would start offering rides in its personal robotaxis to early entry customers in Atlanta forward of a bigger public launch this summer time.

Zoox is taking a methodical strategy to the rollout of its promised robotaxi service. In Atlanta, as in different cities, the corporate used modified Toyota Highlanders to report issues just like the geometry of every highway and the placement of visitors lights. It’s solely after these steps that Zoox can begin testing its autonomous automobile know-how in an space.

The corporate has progressed to testing its purpose-built robotaxi with out a security operator in California cities like Foster Metropolis and San Francisco, in addition to in Las Vegas, Nevada. Zoox plans to supply public rides within the robotaxi in San Francisco and Las Vegas by the top of this 12 months.

As a part of that course of, the corporate has been understanding kinks in its autonomous automobile know-how. Zoox issued recalls in March and in May associated to software program updates meant to repair issues that its self-driving check fleet has encountered throughout testing.

This story has been up to date to incorporate data from Zoox that was not in its press launch about how the corporate has already gathered mapping and different knowledge in Atlanta.