Start with sensors, then build the rest: How Zoox built its robotaxis

Today, the hype is about AI and robots, but about a decade ago, a today’s tech he was driving himself. You couldn’t waving a lanyard at CES for the last half of the last decade without hitting a robotaxi; post-COVID, the number of founders has decreased, but the technology has increased. Visit the right cities — San Francisco and Austin, Texas, if you remember — and you’ll see plenty of cool cars among the townspeople.

A robot like Zoox pod appears. Some robotaxi developers are retrofitting existing vehicles like the Hyundai Ioniq 5s with the sensors and computing power needed for self-driving. Zoox, which was bought by Amazon in 2020he did this with his test ships, but when he starts offering ride-hailing services—currently in Las Vegas and San Francisco—he’s doing it with a purpose-built approach that seems like it just pulled off a big-budget sci-fi production plan.

“A robot is not a car; it’s not a human-driven car, and the requirements are very different, even if it has to be in the country,” said Chris Stoffel, director of robot industrial design and studio engineering at Zoox.

It all starts with sensors, each located a short distance from the top four corners of the robotaxi’s body. From there, each has a consistent, high profile, giving the Zoox robotaxi good visibility, especially in front. “Because we don’t have a traditional fairing, we’ve developed our front-end sensor in a way that’s not possible on a modified car,” said Ryan McMichaels, Zoox’s director of sensor engineering.

Zoox’s robotaxi has a friendly, welcoming look.

Credit: Zoox

Then there is the fact that the robotaxi does not matter whether it is coming or going, because of its mixed, bidirectional nature. Its quality is impressive, especially for a car that will be called on demand. There is no longer a need for three-point turning, and with its parallel steering axles, it should have unparalleled power. For example, since both axles have the same steering wheel, the Zoox robotaxi can move more smoothly than the GM Hummer EV does for its party.