Zoox Ride in San Francisco

Nothing says more about today’s San Francisco than the fact that when I crossed the street to the company entrance to visit the provider of a robotaxi service, robotaxis from three manufacturers stopped for me as a pedestrian. Waymo, Toyota’s Woven Planet and Zoox lined up for me on my way to test drive the Zoox robotaxi.

This cabin-shaped robotaxi, which is a completely new type of vehicle, was to take me through San Francisco today and let me experience the city and the traffic from the perspective of the Zoox robotaxi. Robotaxi is Zoox’s official name for these vehicles. 

The app that can be used to order a Zoox Robotaxi is similar to that of other popular ridesharing services. The location is automatically recorded, you enter the destination and then see where the selected vehicle is located and when it will arrive for collection. Currently, Zoox Robotaxis are only available to employees and their friends and family, but the service will be available to a select public later this year, first in Las Vegas, followed by San Francisco.

In addition to these special vehicles, Zoox has been operating an extensive fleet of Toyota Highlanders equipped with sensors in San Francisco since 2017, which collect the necessary data for the machine learning of the autonomous driving AI.

Microphones are installed on the side panels of the vehicle itself, as can be seen in the video. This allows sounds such as sirens from emergency vehicles to be detected and responded to accordingly. In the USA, for example, other road users have to pull over to the side of the road when emergency vehicles approach from behind and also when they are coming from the opposite direction and there is no physical barrier between the lanes. Microphones and cameras are also installed in the sliding doors, as can be seen in the photo.

Zoox operates also the only robotaxi I know of that has built-in thermal cameras in addition to lidars, cameras and radar. These are located in the laterally protruding sensor pods.

In contrast to the current Waymo robotaxis, which use the Jaguar iPace as a platform and where it is always a fiddle in the back seat with three people until everyone has found the seatbelt buckles and is finally strapped in, the Zoox riders are ready to drive much more quickly. There is enough space for up to four riders in the Robotaxi. Otherwise, however, it feels very spacious. There are cup holders and chargers for four smartphones on the benches between the riders, and touchscreen controls on the sides. The doors can be opened and closed there, and they also display the journey time.

This first trip took place on February 20, 2025 at around 11:10 a.m. PST from Bryant Street to Henry Adams Street and lasted around eight minutes. It is remarkable how briskly the robotaxi starts off and how naturally it flows with traffic. The journey itself was, as hoped and expected, without incident. It is already moving very smoothly and safely, although there will certainly be further improvements to come.

Just in case, the riders can also use touchscreens to talk to the operations center to ask questions or request help. The microphones and loudspeakers installed in the cabin can be used to speak to the support team.

While we sat facing the direction of travel on the first journey, we sat in the opposite position for the return journey. We sat with our backs facing the direction of travel. I know people who get nauseous and always have to sit facing the direction of travel, even on a train. I didn’t notice anything in the Zoox robotaxi itself, it felt comfortable as well in this position.

In contrast to most other providers of robotaxi services, which use vehicles available on the market today as a platform, Zoox has developed a vehicle specially designed for the purpose from the ground up. There is no driver’s seat, there is no steering wheel and there are no other controls that are necessary in today’s human-driven vehicles. The Zoox Robotaxi also has no front or rear, it can drive in both directions and it can be exited on both sides through the sliding doors.

There is no information yet on the pricing for a ride with the Zoox-Robotaxi, but the rates are said to be similar to those of other ridesharing services. Here are more impressions of Zoox robotaxis and test vehicles in San Francisco:

This article was also published in German.