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Zoox's Nevada robotaxi cap expires with about 70 of its 100 slots unclaimed
The Nevada Transportation Authority permit holding Zoox to 100 robotaxis lapses on September 25. Robotaxi Tracker counts more than 30 of the cars in Las Vegas, and the federal exemption underneath allows 2,500 a year.
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What happened
- The Nevada Transportation Authority permit capping Zoox at 100 robotaxis expires September 25, confirmed by an NTA official and a Zoox spokesperson and set out in an updated permit.
- Zoox runs about 100 custom-built robotaxis in total across four US cities, including Austin and Miami, with most of the fleet in Las Vegas and San Francisco.
- Las Vegas is the only city where Zoox charges for rides, and it needs a further permit from California regulators before it can charge passengers in San Francisco.
- The NHTSA commercial exemption Zoox holds allows it to deploy up to 2,500 vehicles a year for the next two years.
- The NTA approved three permits in August for Tesla, Uber and Waymo in Clark County that together could bring up to 7,000 robotaxis to the area within 12 months.
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Why it matters
- capability Zoox can now add cars in Las Vegas as fast as it can build and deploy them, without going back to the state for a higher number.
- constraint Its growth is bounded instead by production of a vehicle with no steering wheel and by the clock on a two-year federal exemption.
- decision Every extra car sent to Las Vegas is one not in Austin, Miami or San Francisco, so Zoox has to choose depth in its one paying market over presence in four.
- exposure Waymo is now selling rides in the same city, so Zoox's wait times and coverage get compared in the only place it collects fares.
A rider on the Strip this month can open two different apps and get a car with nobody in the driver's seat. Zoox began charging for rides in Las Vegas last month, after the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration granted it a temporary exemption from certain federal motor vehicle safety standards [5]. It needed that exemption because its vehicles were designed without a steering wheel, pedals or the other controls federal rules mandate, which Waymo's cars have [6].
The state cap that lapses was never filled. Robotaxi Tracker estimates more than 30 Zoox vehicles operating in the city [4]. On that estimate, roughly 70 of the 100 vehicles Nevada allowed went unclaimed [12]. Zoox's entire national fleet is about the size of the Nevada cap [2], so hitting the limit would have meant moving nearly every car the company owns into one market.
The ceiling that still applies is federal. The NHTSA exemption runs to 2,500 vehicles a year, 25 times the state cap [13], and up to 5,000 vehicles across its two-year term [14].
Zoox declined to say how many robotaxis it operates in Las Vegas today or how many it plans to add [8]. A spokesperson told TechCrunch the company would steadily increase the size of its fleet over the next several months "to meet the high demand in Las Vegas and other markets" [9].
Waymo was more specific about its own start. It opened to customers in Las Vegas earlier this month with dozens of its new Ojai minivan robotaxis, in a 23-square-mile service area covering the Strip south of Highway 589 and into Boulder Junction [11].
A rider opens whichever app shows the shortest wait, in the part of town they are standing in. The two numbers that decide that wait are cars actually in service on a given day and the share of each car's day spent carrying someone who paid. The first can be counted from the street, and a tracker already does it. The second decides whether more vehicles shorten waits or add cars sitting at the curb.
What to watch
- Any new condition Nevada attaches when Zoox's transportation authority permit is next renewed.
- A California permit letting Zoox charge passengers in San Francisco, which would give it a second paying market.
- Whether Tesla and Uber put cars on Clark County roads under the permits the NTA approved in August.