'Zoox' self-driving cars to roll out in Austin

AUSTIN, Texas - Another brand of self-driving cars is rolling out in Austin. 

The backstory:

Zoox autonomous vehicles (AVs) have been testing in Austin since 2024. This week, rides will start for Zoox employees. Later this year, people in the "early rider program" will come off a waitlist to try it. 

The cars are "bidirectional." They have subway-style sliding doors and four inward-facing seats.

The Amazon-owned company is already in San Francisco and Las Vegas. Along with Austin, they're also expanding to Miami. 

Dig deeper:

The City of Austin says the following AV companies are operating in the city. Some are still in the testing phase. 

• ADMT — testing phase
• Avride — testing phase
• Motional — mapping phase
• Tesla — deployed
• Waymo — deployed
• Zoox — testing, deploying soon

A dashboard also shows AV incidents that have been reported to the city since July 2023. 

As of March 25, it shows 238 reported incidents. A third of them are categorized as safety concerns. Other categories include near misses, blocking traffic, school bus stop arm violations, and ignoring APD directions.

Cities can't come up with their own AV laws. They have to follow the state's law. In 2025, the Texas Legislature passed a bill authorizing the Texas Department of Motor Vehicles to develop processes to oversee the deployment and operation of AVs. Austin works with the DMV and AV companies as they enter the market.

What they're saying:

FOX 7 Austin asked the Austin Department of Transportation and Public Works why so many AV companies test and deploy their cars in Austin. 

"Austin is an internationally-recognized innovation hub with a highly skilled workforce, a large young adult population who are tech-savvy, excellent infrastructure, and generally good weather. The state AV regulatory framework likely plays a role as well," they said in a statement. 

We also asked what safeguards are in place to ensure everyone's safety when interacting with AVs on the road.

TPW responded with the following:

"Considering the restrictions within Texas law, the City’s AV Working Group works with autonomous vehicle companies to review safety concerns as they arise and provide training for first responders before deployment of vehicles. We can confirm trainings with Zoox are occurring. Some examples of additional information the City has provided to AV companies include:

• Maps of schools and school zones
• Information about traffic control for special events

Information about our fire and police vehicles and procedures."

Austinites speak on self-driving cars

Local perspective:

Many Austinites FOX 7 spoke to said they're fine with more self-driving cars, as long as they're working correctly. 

Elizabeth Jennings says she thinks Austin is a good place to test them. 

"We have a really interesting landscape here of chaos combined with interest that I think makes Austin a good place to test them and also good for social media afterward when something does go wrong," she said.

She says AVs can have the same issues that human drivers have, but they can also be a good choice for personal safety. 

"They're definitely a nuisance in traffic, but also so are the other drivers, to be honest. There's no good places for them to pull over when you're getting a Lyft or an Uber, so I don't think they're more of a challenge. They just get more attention when they mess up," she said. "As a woman, I have Uber turned on for self-driving cars. I think it's been a great experience. I've taken them many times. I would absolutely choose a robot or a bear over a man driving a car any day. No offense to men, but it is personally, I think, a good experience. I like making small talk to myself, so it works out well."

Other Austinites share their thoughts as well.

"It's a way of the future. My son, just every time he sees one, he says 'robot car, robot car.' As long as they're functioning properly. I've been in a few instances where lane changes and whatnot, they kind of block and people get so frustrated," Colby Cobo said. "I think as long as it's safe, I think it's probably going to be safer for my kids to ride in those one day than ride in a car, driving themselves."

"As long as they have good programming, and they don't like causing issues, like you see those stories, like all the Waymos like (hand motion showing mixup). I mean, as long as that's the exception, then sure, why not," Blake Jackson said. "I have friends, I'm sure everyone does that drive people for a living, and it's probably going to force some of that out, but it's kind of like, get with the times, the robots are coming and get ready."

AustinCars and Trucks