Amazon's Zoox Expands Free Robotaxi Rides in San Francisco, Challenging Waymo
Zoox is using free rides, festival sponsorships and restaurant partnerships to build buzz in Waymo's stronghold, but it still can't legally charge fares in the city.
What happened: Amazon's self-driving unit Zoox is ramping up its robotaxi push in San Francisco, offering free demonstration rides from a dedicated 'Rider Lounge' while trying to win over a city Waymo already dominates. Zoox's boxy, pod-like cars have no steering wheel, pedals or driver's seat. Since May the company has sponsored local festivals, partnered with restaurants and even given away wine at happy hours to build buzz. In July, federal regulators granted a safety exemption letting Zoox place up to 2,500 purpose-built robotaxis a year -- as many as 5,000 over two years -- without standard features like wipers and mirrors.
Why it matters: San Francisco is the proving ground for the whole robotaxi industry, and until now Waymo has largely had it to itself: nearly 4,000 vehicles across 15 cities and over 500,000 rides a week, versus Zoox's roughly 100 vehicles and 10,000 rides. Tesla is also pushing its driverless Cybercab, and Uber and the startup Wayve just launched robotaxi rides in London. If Zoox's charm-offensive strategy works, it could speed the industry's shift from novelty to everyday transport -- and pressure regulators to settle safety rules faster.
How it works, plainly: Unlike Waymo, which retrofits ordinary cars, Zoox designed its vehicle from scratch at a plant in Hayward, California, eventually meant to build about 10,000 vehicles a year. That ground-up design let Zoox skip a steering wheel entirely, but it also meant Zoox needed a special federal exemption from normal safety-equipment rules. Crucially, that federal approval covers deployment, not fares: to charge riders in California, Zoox still needs a DMV deployment permit and sign-off from the state utilities commission, which it says is still pending.
The rollout: Zoox began free San Francisco rides in November 2025, then quadrupled its service area in spring 2026. Last month it started charging for rides in Las Vegas -- its first paid service anywhere, priced slightly above typical Uber and Lyft fares. San Francisco rides stay free while approvals are pending, a process Zoox calls 'baby steps' expected to take a couple more months. Meanwhile Waymo just raised $16 billion in new funding, and Tesla says it will begin Cybercab rides, though wide availability is likely far off.