This week, Zoox cofounder and CTO Jesse Levinson announced at TechCrunch Disrupt 2024 that it would start rolling out its purpose-built autonomous vehicles in San Francisco and Las Vegas in the coming weeks. But little was said about the ongoing investigation into the Amazon-owned company’s claims that its vehicles — which are shaped like giant toasters and lack traditional controls like steering wheels and pedals — comply with federal safety rules.
in 2022. But while Cruise seemed confident it would eventually receive the exemption, the company became bogged down in controversy after a pedestrian was injured by one of its robotaxis in San Francisco. '“The first company to self-certify a purpose-built, fully autonomous, all-electric passenger vehicle”' Zoox’s shuttles are similar to the Origin, designed to travel in either direction, with a cabin featuring passenger seats facing each other.
to enforce its own rules — and the agency has only recently started to show more backbone in how it approaches autonomous vehicle operators.