Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company with retrofitted SUVs, is deploying a small test fleet to downtown Atlanta’s roads this summer.
Eight years after state lawmakers legalized self-driving cars on public Georgia roads, Atlanta has become a popular autonomous vehicle testing ground.
Both Lyft and Uber plan to broadly integrate autonomous vehicles into their platforms in the city this summer as well.
In a release Zoox called Atlanta “one of the largest ride-hailing markets in the United States” and a tech hub that “welcomes autonomous vehicle testing and innovation in many fields.”
Zoox vehicles have already been out and about in Atlanta this spring doing manual mapping and data collection, a spokesperson said.
This marks the seventh test market for the company. It plans to welcome public riders to its vehicles in Las Vegas and San Francisco later this year, but does not have a timeline for Atlanta yet.
The company declined to answer questions about how big the local test fleet is and exactly where they will be driving beyond “the downtown area.”
Waymo through a partnership with Uber will start matching its “early access” members with autonomous vehicles this week, the companies announced Monday.
Uber is preparing for a full Atlanta roll out of Waymo’s electric Jaguar SUVs into its ride-hailing network this summer.
May Mobility this year brought driverless Toyota Sienna minivans to Atlanta roads in partnership with Lyft. The fleet is testing ahead of its own summer launch, according to Lyft.
Meanwhile, the Atlanta Beltline is looking for funding for an autonomous shuttle pilot on the Westside Trail in advance of the FIFA World Cup games, and Peachtree Corners has had a small-scale driverless shuttle corridor for years.
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