Yesterday, February 13, employees of Zoox, which is a subsidiary of Amazon, officially announced that a full test of an unmanned robotic taxi is currently underway on public roads in California. True, if previously large companies have already tested their drones on public roads, Zoox has gone much further – it quite calmly transports passengers on board its vehicle, providing the opportunity to travel in a fully unmanned vehicle. True, there are many restrictions in this regard, but they are all related to the desire to avoid accidental accidents and other troubles.
For example, the application to transport passengers in a robotic taxi on public roads is a bit farfetched, because in fact the permission of the government agency does not apply to all roads in the state of California, but only to one specific route 1.6 kilometers long – this is the distance between two Zoox office buildings. Also, the company, although it transports passengers, has not yet become publicly available, so only employees of the company can use the vehicle, and you can move at speeds up to 50 kilometers per hour. However, all these limitations are covered by one phenomenal detail.
The main advantage of the Zoox car is the complete absence of vehicle controls for a person – there is no steering wheel and pedals in the cabin, so this is a full-fledged drone in the form in which the authors of science fiction novels imagined it. Passengers are loaded into the vehicle, indicate the route of the robot taxi and calmly go about their business until the moment the car delivers them to their destination. In the process, the electric car itself rebuilds between lanes, turns, picks up and slows down, slows down at traffic lights and much more.
The developers from Zoox also noted that their car has four-wheel drive, and the vehicle body itself is absolutely symmetrical, so that it does not need to turn around to change direction. Unfortunately, so far the company does not have so many car models – we are talking about “dozens” of electric cars that are now being actively tested and finalized. It is likely that when the startup employees have completed all the necessary tests, the robot taxi will go into mass production and will soon replace the usual taxis on public roads in large cities, but Amazon itself has not yet given any deadlines.
Source: Trash Box
I’m Meagan Diaz, a news writer and author at World Stock Market. My main focus is on technology and stock market trends, and I’m passionate about helping readers stay informed on the ever-changing landscape. I bring extensive knowledge of the industry to my work as well as a knack for storytelling that makes my articles both accessible and engaging.
