Zoox offers its first public autonomous rides in San Francisco

Today, Zoox announced that its Zoox Explorers program is live in San Francisco. The company is inviting members of the public off its waitlist to be among the first to get an autonomous ride.

“Zoox has been testing our autonomous technology in San Francisco since 2017,” said CEO Aicha Evans. “It’s our home. A city of innovation and progress, with an amazing mobility ecosystem that we feel Zoox can really complement. We have seen incredible interest in Zoox in this market and are excited about this first step to bring our purpose-built robotaxi experience to more people.”

The company‘s Explorers initiative invites people to ride for free and share valuable feedback to help Zoox refine the experience before it scales. To join the waitlist, early riders can download the Zoox app from the iOS or Android App Store.

Earlier this year, Zoox launched its service in Las Vegas, becoming the first company to provide a fully driverless ride-hailing service in a purpose-built robotaxi in the city. It is currently testing its fleet in several other cities, including Seattle, Austin, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C.

The Foster City, Calif.-based company stands out from other robotaxi developers, like Waymo, with its unique vehicle. The Zoox robotaxi is entirely purpose-built for autonomous driving, so it doesn’t have a steering wheel, brakes, or even a driver’s seat. Instead, the inside of the vehicle features two rows of seats that face each other.

How to hail a Zoox robotaxi

Zoox Explorers will be able to ride anywhere within the company’s service area, which includes the majority of the SoMa, Mission, and Design District neighborhoods. This is a point-to-point service, and riders can select a destination from suggested points of interest, enter a street address, or drop a pin at their destination within the service area.

The service will drop riders off near their destinations and can provide walking directions to get passengers from door to door. Rides in San Francisco are free to start.

In San Francisco, Zoox has partnered with small businesses in the community, like bakery Tartine Manufactory, to help bring riders to popular destinations, while also giving Tartine employees the opportunity to be among its first riders. This is the company‘s first local business partner, and it hopes to add more as it expands its service.

Since 2017, the company’s test fleet has autonomously navigated the streets of San Francisco with a safety driver. It began testing its robotaxis in SoMa and the Design District area in November 2024. Zoox also has multiple offices and vehicle depots around the city to support operations.

Robotaxi race continues

Currently, Waymo dominates the robotaxi industry in the U.S. The company‘s robotaxis have already driven more than 100 million fully autonomous miles on public roads and provided more than 10 million paid rides.

Waymo said it is now driving more than 2 million fully autonomous miles and providing over a quarter of a million rides per week. Today, the company announced plans to expand to five more cities.