SCOTTSDALE, ARIZONA — March 9 (GeokHub) Autonomous vehicle company Zoox, owned by Amazon, is expanding its robotaxi testing program to new U.S. cities while launching a major operations center designed to manage its growing fleet of self-driving vehicles.
The company announced Monday that testing will soon begin in Dallas and Phoenix, two cities chosen to help evaluate the performance of its autonomous vehicles under new road and weather conditions.
As part of the expansion, Zoox will also establish a “Fusion Center” in Scottsdale, Arizona, which will function as a command hub for fleet operations, remote support and rider services.
Expansion Across the United States
With the addition of Dallas and Phoenix, Zoox will now operate testing programs in ten major U.S. markets.
The company already runs testing operations in cities including Las Vegas, the San Francisco Bay Area, Seattle, Austin, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta and Washington, D.C…
The expansion highlights Zoox’s strategy to gradually scale its autonomous transportation network as competition intensifies across the robotaxi industry.
Early Testing Strategy
Initially, the company plans to deploy a limited number of modified sport utility vehicles in the new cities. These vehicles will first be used for manual mapping of road networks before progressing to autonomous driving tests with trained safety drivers onboard.
Zoox said the testing will allow engineers to gather data needed to improve navigation systems and artificial intelligence models that power the company’s autonomous vehicles.
Arizona Command Center
The new Scottsdale Fusion Center will serve as a central operations hub for the company’s growing robotaxi network.
The facility will monitor fleet performance, provide remote guidance to vehicles when necessary and support riders using Zoox’s services.
Company officials say the expansion will also create hundreds of new jobs across the region as the company scales operations.
Competition in the Robotaxi Market
The expansion comes as competition in the autonomous vehicle sector accelerates.
Self-driving technology leader Waymo, owned by Alphabet, has been leading commercial deployments of robotaxis in several cities.
Meanwhile, Tesla is pursuing a different strategy focused on scaling autonomous driving through its mass-produced electric vehicles and artificial intelligence systems.
Zoox has taken a more gradual approach, recently launching a limited robotaxi service in Las Vegas and a pilot rider program in San Francisco.
Challenging Testing Conditions
Dallas and Phoenix present unique testing environments compared with dense urban areas such as San Francisco.
The cities feature large highway networks, wide suburban roads and extreme climate conditions including desert heat and dust.
According to Zoox, these conditions provide valuable data for evaluating how autonomous vehicles perform under different environmental stresses, helping engineers refine sensors, battery performance and AI systems.
So far, the company reports that its autonomous vehicles have driven more than one million miles and served over 300,000 riders.
National Focus on Self-Driving Safety
The expansion comes as regulators across the United States intensify discussions about the future of autonomous vehicles.
Industry leaders are expected to participate in a national safety forum focused on self-driving technology, with executives from Zoox, Waymo and autonomous driving company Aurora Innovation taking part in discussions about safety standards and industry regulation.
