In US Autonomous Robotaxi Wars, It is Zoox 1, Tesla 0

Earlier this yr, Tesla displayed some gauzy photos of a robotaxi it would construct sometime, God prepared and the creek don’t rise. Tesla inventory rose considerably, if quickly, on the information. The automobile itself was silly — a reasonably low slung two-seater with scissor doorways like the unique Lamborghini Countach. The automobile, as proven, is just too low for a lot of potential riders to get into and out of conveniently and it has restricted capability to hold baggage and packages. In different phrases, as a sports activities coupe, it’s nice. As a robotaxi, it’s silly. Oh, wait, I already mentioned that.

An actual autonomous robotaxi ought to be formed extra like a field on wheels, with a ground that’s only a step up from the sidewalk, large doorways for straightforward entry, and a excessive sufficient roof so atypical individuals don’t should bend themselves right into a pretzel to make use of it. There have been a lot of such autos proposed through the years as a result of that’s what makes essentially the most sense. Tesla has proven shadowy photos of 1. Cruze, the autonomous startup backed by Common Motors, did one other. So has Zoox, the autonomous robotaxi firm backed by Jeff Bezos.

A very autonomous automobile has no provision for a driver. No driver’s seat, no steering wheel, and no throttle or brake pedals. Such autos could be examined till the cows come residence on non-public roads, however earlier than they are often deployed on public roads, they want an exemption from the Federal Motor Automobile Security Requirements, which require vehicles and vehicles to have steering wheels and pedals.

Zoox FMVSS Waiver Introduced

On August 6, 2025, the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration introduced it has “issued an exemption for Zoox driverless autos underneath its newly expanded Automated Automobile Exemption Program. That is the first-ever exemption for American-built autos underneath this system.” Bloomberg experiences the choice follows a prolonged interval of negotiation between the Nationwide Freeway Site visitors Security Administration and the corporate. Zoox first introduced its driverless automobile designed with no steering wheel or pedals in 2022.

In June, Zoox opened a robotaxi manufacturing facility in California that can be able to manufacturing as much as 10,000 purpose-built robotaxis a yr. CNBC experiences that Las Vegas will be the first metropolis to see Zoox robotaxis on its streets, maybe earlier than the tip of this yr.

Uber Ponders Its Autonomous Future

Uber is now caught within the crosshairs of the autonomous automobile craze because it tries to evaluate how the know-how will influence its future enterprise mannequin. Not too long ago it introduced a brand new partnership with Lucid and Nuro to construct a fleet of robotaxis, however these autos, as far as we all know, will nonetheless be FMVSS-compliant with steering wheels and pedals.

“AVs right now should not worthwhile,” Uber CFO Prashanth Mahendra-Rajah mentioned lately. “That has been a fairly constant funding strategy for Uber is we go into markets and go into merchandise beginning at a loss. We construct scale, we construct our expertise, after which over time, we all know precisely the levers which might be obligatory to show to get that profitability.”

Bloomberg says, “Uber has operated an asset-light mannequin ever because the firm offered its autonomous automobile unit in 2020 — a part of efforts to wind down cash-burning initiatives as a newly listed public firm. It lastly turned yearly worthwhile in 2023, displaying that the enterprise mannequin of a software program platform to match drivers with prospects is simply nice.” Readers will recall that Uber backpedaled furiously from autonomous know-how after one in every of its check vehicles ran over and killed a pedestrian in Tempe, Arizona, regardless that a human security monitor was onboard.

Till the partnership with Lucid and Nuro was introduced, Uber’s many autonomous partnerships principally concerned making its platform obtainable for different driverless carmakers or tech builders to succeed in riders, in addition to providing third-party companies for fleet upkeep and depot operations. Is Uber, as soon as identified for hemorrhaging money and now money stream optimistic, comfy spending on exhausting belongings that will or might not bolster the corporate’s backside line?

Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi made clear throughout a latest convention name that he sees the largest hurdle to commercializing AVs just isn’t regulation, however convincing producers to construct and retrofit autos at scale and affordably. “What Uber is doing is displaying producers that it’s prepared to decide to having pores and skin within the sport for years to return, even when it means taking a loss now,” he mentioned, based on Bloomberg. For now, Uber is asking for time and area to show that its autonomous investments, nevertheless modest, makes monetary sense. The corporate is piloting varied enterprise fashions with its driverless know-how companions, together with revenue-sharing and software program licensing.

And What Of Tesla?

In 2023, Elon Musk introduced Dojo, a supercomputer designed by Tesla and used to coach the machine studying fashions for the corporate’s Autopilot and Full Self-Driving techniques, in addition to its Optimus humanoid robotic. It’s primarily based on a customized in-house chip often known as D1 and was meant for use in coaching AI fashions, Bloomberg experiences. The pc takes in video knowledge captured by autos and quickly processes it to enhance the corporate’s algorithms. In 2023, Morgan Stanley breathlessly introduced that Dojo may add a half a trillion {dollars} to Tesla’s market worth. Cathie Wooden ran out an purchased a bazillion shares of Tesla on the information.

How then to clarify the information this week that Tesla is shutting down Dojo and that Peter Bannon, who was head of the Dojo program, has left the corporate, one in every of a lot of proficient individuals who have given Musk the grand kiss-off in latest months? We all know many potential prospects have determined to not do enterprise with Ubersturmfuhrer Musk due to his outrageous political nonsense, however we don’t know what number of in management roles at Tesla have additionally grown weary of working for a drug-addled nutcase, as a result of everybody at Tesla is muzzled by nondisclosure agreements.

In accordance with Bloomberg, Musk has ordered the trouble to be shut down, based on the individuals, who requested to not be recognized discussing inside issues. The workforce has misplaced about 20 employees lately to newly fashioned DensityAI, and remaining Dojo employees are being reassigned to different knowledge middle and compute initiatives inside Tesla, the individuals mentioned. The corporate plans to extend its reliance on exterior know-how companions, together with Nvidia and Superior Micro Units for computing and Samsung Electronics for chip manufacturing, the individuals mentioned.

DensityAI is predicted to exit stealth mode quickly. Its focus is on chips, {hardware}, and software program that can energy knowledge facilities for AI which might be utilized in robotics, by AI brokers, and for automotive functions, amongst different sectors, Bloomberg says. The corporate was based by Ganesh Venkataramanan, the previous head of Dojo, and ex-Tesla staff Invoice Chang and Ben Floering. Maybe the collapse of Dojo was preordained after Milan Kovac, the top of engineering for Optimus, and David Lau, vice chairman of software program engineering, left Tesla earlier this yr. Longtime Musk confidant Omead Afshar additionally parted firm with Tesla lately.

Maybe essentially the most galling information for Elon this week is that Zoox — owned by rival multi-billionaire Jeff Bezos — has received approval to start testing its totally autonomous autos whereas Tesla has nothing to indicate for its years of effort however a computer-generated picture of a automobile that’s hardly match for the duty. That’s gotta damage.