""It's just a much better experience, so your time in the vehicle is dramatically nicer," he said at Fortune's Brainstorm AI event in San Francisco earlier this month. "You have much more space. If you're with friends, it's dramatically more social, because you're facing each other." Waymo has largely dominated the robotaxi space since its first public launch in 2020, with a fleet size of more than 2,000, which recently completed 100 million miles driven autonomously."
"Zoox, by comparison, is playing catch-up. After launching its first public robotaxi service in Las Vegas with free rides on its app in September, Zoox will begin offering paid rides in Las Vegas in early 2026, and expects to do the same in San Francisco later in the year, Levinson said. A few weeks ago, the robotaxi service, with a test fleet of about 50 across the two cities, passed its one million-mile technical benchmark."
"Levinson suggested that what separates Zoox from Waymo and even Tesla's Cybercab (which is slated to begin production in April 2026, according to CEO Elon Musk) is that it was never designed to have a driver. "The cars that have been designed over the last 100 years are for humans," Levinson said. "All the choices, their shape, their architecture, what components they have in them-they were all designed for human drivers.""
Zoox's robotaxi features two rows of seats facing one another to enhance space and social interaction for groups. The vehicle is purpose-built without a driver's position, contrasting with conventional cars designed for human drivers over the past century. Waymo leads the robotaxi market with a fleet of more than 2,000 vehicles, 100 million autonomous miles driven, and 10 million rides across five cities. Zoox launched public service in Las Vegas and plans to begin paid rides there in early 2026 and in San Francisco later that year. A test fleet of about 50 across the two cities passed a one million-mile technical benchmark.
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