Amazon-owned robo-taxis developer Zoox has announced that it will deploy a purpose-built two-way autonomous people mover on public roads. Capable of carrying up to four passengers, this fully self-driving vehicle is used to shuttle the company’s employees around Foster City, California.
The electric vehicle has been in development for almost a decade and was designed from the ground up to be a self-driving taxi, so it lacks the traditional driving controls found in modified cars used by the likes of AutoX and Waymo.
“Zoox was founded on the premise that the best way to advance transportation and improve road safety is to reimagine the complete mobility experience. ,” said CTO and co-founder Jesse Levinson. “It is a feat of design and engineering, the culmination of years of hard work, and the ability to drive a dedicated vehicle fully autonomously and without a safe driver. With the deployment, we will continue to improve our technology and operations to provide shuttle services as we prepare for the launch of commercial service.”
Zooks
The first prototype was built and tested in 2015, achieved two-way operation the following year, and received Zoox approval in 2018 to transport passengers using safety drivers in California. The permit to shuttle people without a safety driver continues in 2020, when the vehicle was put through its paces on private roads before being granted permission to operate on public roads by the California Department of Motor Vehicles.
The robotaxi has a fender-to-fender length of 143 inches (3,630 mm) and a height of 76 inches (1,936 mm). It features 4-wheel steering for a 27.5-foot (8.5 m) turning circle, active suspension for a smooth ride, and uses a combination of vision cameras, radar and LiDAR to feed surrounding data to the on-board computer system. to for processing.
Passengers are accessed through sliding doors and are comfortable in facing bench seats with safety belts before disembarking. Zoox vehicles are capable of speeds of up to 75 mph (120 km/h) and can run for up to 16 hours on a single charge.
Zooks
After completing its first run on public roads on February 11, it tackled up to 4 full-time Zoox employees between two buildings one mile apart in Foster City at up to 35 mph (56 km/h), Tackle left turns, right turns, two-way turns, and traffic lights, being careful to get along with cyclists, pedestrians, and other vehicles.
Lessons learned inform future improvements in technology as the company moves to secure the approvals needed to begin services to transport members of the public. More videos below .
Zooks robo-taxis on public roads
Source: Zooks
