Amazon’s Zoox robotaxi unit is ramping up automobile manufacturing at a brand new facility in Hayward, California.
Zoox
Amazon-owned autonomous automobile startup Zoox on Wednesday opened a sprawling new manufacturing facility within the San Francisco Bay Space, paving the best way for extra robotaxi manufacturing because it plans a business rollout of its fleet later this 12 months.
The corporate will use the location in Hayward, California, to extend its robotaxi fleet considerably. The ability is at present producing one robotaxi per day, however Zoox stated it expects to speed up manufacturing over the approaching 12 months.
At full scale, it should have the capability to assemble 10,000 robotaxis a 12 months, with roughly three robotaxis being produced per hour, the corporate stated. Zoox didn’t present a timeline for reaching that manufacturing degree.
“We needn’t crank out a automobile each minute as a result of we’re not promoting these items,” Zoox CEO Aicha Evans stated on the ability’s manufacturing flooring throughout a tour.
Zoox wants extra of its toaster-shaped robotaxis to roll off the meeting line so as to fulfill its mission of deploying a business ride-hailing service within the U.S. Zoox, based 11 years in the past and bought by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, started testing its robotaxis on public roads in 2023.
The corporate at present has a number of dozen robotaxis on public roads in Foster Metropolis, California, San Francisco and Las Vegas. Zoox expects to finally function between 500 and 1,000 robotaxis in small-to-medium sized cities the place it presents ride-hailing providers, Evans stated.
The ability, spanning 3.5 soccer fields, depends on a mixture of human technicians and robots to assemble Zoox’s bespoke autos.
Zoox
The competitors
Zoox is racing to catch as much as Alphabet‘s Waymo, which operates the one absolutely public driverless ride-hailing service within the U.S. Waymo has aggressively expanded into new U.S. markets in recent times, and provides greater than 250,000 paid journeys every week throughout Phoenix, San Francisco, Los Angeles and Austin.
Evans stated Zoox is “very proud” of Waymo’s progress, including that it helps validate the work that Zoox and others are doing to deploy an autonomous ride-hailing service.
Aicha Evans, chief govt officer of Zoox Inc., speaks through the Bloomberg Know-how Summit in San Francisco, California, US, on Thursday, June 22, 2023.
David Paul Morris | Bloomberg | Getty Photos
Elon Musk’s Tesla is poised to launch its robotaxi service in Austin on June 22, although Musk cautioned that date might shift as the corporate is “being tremendous paranoid about security.”
Zoox is gearing as much as launch public rides in Las Vegas, its first business market, later this 12 months. San Francisco is anticipated to observe in 2026, with further places in Austin and Miami coming within the subsequent few years.
Just like different rideshare providers akin to Uber and Lyft, Zoox riders will be capable to hail a robotaxi through an app.
Ramping up manufacturing
Not like Waymo, which makes use of Geely Zeekr minivans, Zoox has developed its personal custom-built “carriage-style” autos, the place as much as 4 passengers face one another and there is no steering wheel. Evans known as the robotaxis “high-end computer systems on wheels.”
Zoox CTO Jesse Levinson has said previously that the price of growing Zoox’s bespoke robotaxis is “vital.” The price of every automobile ought to come down as Zoox scales up its fleet, Levinson stated through the tour.
Zoox stated the brand new facility, spanning roughly 3.5 soccer fields, is the primary web site “devoted solely to producing purpose-built robotaxis” within the U.S., a well-timed transfer given President Donald Trump‘s aggressive tariff insurance policies. The ability was occupied by bus producer Gillig previous to Zoox’s arrival.
About half of the corporate’s suppliers are based mostly within the U.S., nevertheless it additionally sources some components from nations together with China and Italy.
Zoox could open further manufacturing amenities elsewhere within the U.S. and internationally over time, Evans stated.
Zoox’s autonomous carriage has house for as much as 4 passengers.
Zoox
The ability is positioned simply throughout the bay from Zoox’s headquarters in Foster Metropolis, California. The corporate also operates a small manufacturing facility in Fremont, California, which can now be used to assemble its check fleet of retrofitted Toyota SUVs and to configure the sensor pods that sit atop its robotaxis, enabling them to see in all instructions.
The Hayward facility at present employs about 100 technicians. Zoox additionally makes use of robots for particular duties on the ground like making use of adhesive for glass set up and transporting the robotaxi from station to station down the meeting line.
As soon as the automobile is assembled, it goes via end-of-line testing. This features a calibration bay to make sure all cameras and sensors work correctly, a station that stress checks the powertrain at excessive speeds after which the automobile takes a “bathe” in a simulated rainstorm to test for any leaks.
The robotaxis take a number of laps round a check monitor positioned behind the ability earlier than they’re thought of “match for the street,” Zoox stated.
Zoox has ramped up advertising because it prepares to open its service to the general public.
“As a result of the automobile seems so totally different, we have to announce ourselves,” Evans stated.
