I did not attend, but Zoox held a public showing in San Francisco where the public could sit in its custom-build robotaxi. It appears the robotaxis remained stationary, so the session was primarily to check out the vehicle form factor.
Zoox is betting that its custom vehicles will (1) be permitted at scale and (2) will be an important differentiator between them and Waymo.
On the first point, I think they will succeed. The regulatory barriers to custom-built autonomous vehicles in the US are complicated, particularly related to the presence of a steering wheel in the vehicle. But I think the world is going to move in this direction and these types of vehicles will eventually become permissible.
I think the second bet is more tenuous. I’m not sure that matters, though, because even if Waymo winds up running away with the robotaxi market, Zoox is well-positioned to win the parcel delivery market, which might be much larger. Zoox is owned by Amazon, and these vehicles seem very well-suited for parcel delivery.
David Silver 