Last June, Amazon bought Zoox, a company dedicated to the development of autonomous cars, which has presented the first self-driving robotaxi.
As you can see in the photos, it is a vehicle that could remind more of a futuristic carriage or buggy than a car, which can carry up to four people.
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Zoox has spent the last years working on improving the recognition and movement functions of its autonomous vehicle. And according to the company’s indications, it is capable of performing precise maneuvers such as “dodging double-parked vans” or making “complicated U-turns”. Zoox also claims that their vehicle is the first one that can reach 120km/h speed, so they hope that they can also drive on highways.
Zoox Robotaxi is equipped with six LIDAR devices located on the top of the vehicle, which allow determining the distance from a laser emitter to an object or surface using a pulsed laser. These lasers are combined with various radar sensors and cameras. This provides you with a 270-degree field of view at every corner. It totally eliminates blind spots and provides redundancy in case a sensor fails. In addition, according to Zoox, all these sensors allow the vehicle to see at a distance of up to 150 meters.
The interior of the robotaxi is also fully equipped to meet the needs of its passengers. It has wireless loading mats and a touch screen where users can choose music, see the route or control the air conditioning.
Zoox robotaxi is powered by a 133kWh battery, a bit more powerful than the current Tesla models, and they claim to last up to 16 hours of continuous use.
It is clear that Amazon’s next goal is to revolutionize transportation and the current delivery systems. It currently has its own infrastructure to manage its shipments, it also invested a large amount of money in the Rivian company, a company dedicated to electric vehicles. They are working on a fleet of electric vans. Last but not least, Amazon has an important participation in Aurora, they are also dedicated to electric vehicles.
