Amazon’s self-driving robotaxi is ‘really close’ to human transport as car meets Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards
AMAZON’s robotaxi startup, Zoox, has become the first organization to self-certify a purpose-built, fully autonomous, all-electric passenger vehicle to meet Federal Motor Vehicle Safety Standards [FMVSS].
Zoox’s co-founder and CEO, Jesse Levinson, said, “you’re going to see it [robotaxi] sooner rather than later.”
Zoox submitted its crash test results to the US government in June, Business News reports.
All robotaxi crash-tests and certifications have been overseen by Chief Safety Innovation Officer Mark Rosekind.
Rosekind was head of the NHTSA during the latter years of Obama’s Presidency.
Rosekind said: “Building from the ground up, we knew which federal automotive safety standards we would have to incorporate, and then we did simulations, engineering tests, analysis, etc., to make sure we could meet those performance requirements,” Business News Reports.
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The Amazon driving startup is reluctant to give a timetable for their robotaxi’s release since the vehicle will need approval from California’s Department of Motor Vehicles [DMV] and the US Department of Transportation [DOT].
Zoox has been a California-based company since its inception eight years ago.
DMV and DOT approval would allow Zoox to operate on public roads as a rideshare service.
California appointed Zoox as the fourth company to receive state-represented consent for fully-driverless testing in 2020, Bloomberg reports.
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Zoox’s robotaxi testing isn't exclusively private.
The startup’s facility recently gave a private tour of its facilities to reporters.
Zoox’s autonomous taxi can drive up to 75mph on the highway and features a 132-kWh-hour battery system.
