Zoox will start charging riders fares for its robotaxi rides beginning next week in Las Vegas.
The Amazon-owned autonomous ride-hailing company will begin charging passengers for rides on Monday, the company announced Wednesday.
“This is an important moment for Zoox as a business, and also comes less than a year after we first launched our service to the public in Las Vegas,” the company said in a statement.
Pricing for rides in Zoox’s robotaxis will be calculated from a combination of a base fare, distance and time traveled from the pickup and drop-off points, according to the company. It said it is aiming to have prices competitive with taxicabs and ride-hailing services. Some rides to high-traffic destinations such as Harry Reid International Airport, Sphere and T-Mobile Arena will feature a destination fee on top of all other applicable fees.
Fares on Zoox will be calculated using the best available route at the time of the booking, which will be visible to the customer. If a Zoox robotaxi must take a different or longer route, riders will not be charged an additional fee.
Zoox did not offer sample pricing of what riders should expect to pay. Rides are bookable via Zoox’s smartphone application now and become bookable on Uber later this year.
Zoox has been providing free demonstration rides since September in Las Vegas and has provided over 500,000 rides. Zoox has been picking up and dropping off customers at Sphere, T-Mobile Arena, the Las Vegas Convention Center, MGM Grand, Resorts World, Area 15, Mandalay Bay, Top Golf, Fashion Show Mall, Wynn and New York-New York. Zoox is still conducting test rides to Reid Airport, with public rides to be added to its destination list later.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration last week granted a temporary exemption for Zoox to begin offering paid rides. The exemption was required because Zoox’s robotaxis lack brake pedals, accelerator pedals or steering wheels.
Zoox robotaxis are four-seat, carriage-style pods with two seats on each side facing each other. The vehicles can travel up to 75 mph forward or backward.
The exemption granted by the NHTSA runs through July 31, 2028, and allows Zoox to deploy up to 2,500 vehicles per year for paid robotaxi service, according to the NHTSA’s records. Zoox offers free rides for those who are part of its Explorer program in San Francisco, but it does not have a plan to begin paid service there.
Zoox has been operating in Las Vegas since 2019, starting with Toyota SUVs retrofitted with the autonomous systems that are being used in the robotaxis, for data gathering purposes.
The company operates out of a 190,000 square-foot facility in the southwest valley.
Contact Mick Akers at makers@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2920. Follow @mickakers on X.
