Zoox wins first U.S. approval for driverless robotaxi service

Zoox won its first U.S. approval to charge for driverless robotaxi rides, and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted a temporary federal exemption for vehicles built without a steering wheel or pedals. The agency authorized the Amazon-owned company to deploy up to 2,500 vehicles a year for two years under enhanced oversight, a ceiling that works out to 5,000 robotaxis if the company reaches the limit.

The decision is the first approval for a purpose-built robotaxi that lacks human controls. Zoox has spent years building a shuttle instead of converting a conventional car, and the company’s final vehicle architecture removes the steering wheel and pedals entirely. Zoox received its first demonstration exemption under NHTSA’s newer process in August 2025, welcomed its first public riders in San Francisco on Nov. 18, 2025, and added Los Angeles as its sixth testing location on April 9, 2025.

The federal clearance followed a review process that included public comment on Zoox’s petition on March 10, 2026. The approval lets Zoox move toward launching commercial robotaxi service in Las Vegas. That puts the startup in a different position from Cruise, whose October 2023 crash in San Francisco helped trigger intense federal scrutiny and eventually pushed General Motors to exit the loss-making robotaxi business in December 2024. It also leaves Zoox playing catch-up to Waymo, which already operates paid driverless rides in several U.S. markets and began expanding into four more cities this month, including San Diego, Las Vegas, Tampa and Denver.

Amazon bought Zoox in June 2020 and kept Aicha Evans and co-founder and chief technology officer Jesse Levinson in charge.