Dallas is officially on the autonomous vehicle map. Amazon's self-driving unit Zoox announced Monday it is expanding its robotaxi testing program to Dallas - a move that will soon put driverless technology on North Texas streets for the first time under the company's brand.
Zoox will begin by deploying a small number of retrofitted Toyota Highlander SUVs, equipped with its proprietary sensor suite and with a human safety driver behind the wheel, to map Dallas streets before eventually introducing its signature boxy, purpose-built robotaxis.
To support the expansion, Zoox said it is opening a new robotaxi depot in Dallas. The company cited the city's sprawling road networks and unpredictable weather as key reasons for the selection, saying Dallas provides a valuable testing ground to refine its artificial intelligence against diverse conditions that differ sharply from the dense urban environments where it has been operating.
Dallas and Phoenix - announced simultaneously - give Zoox a presence in 10 U.S. markets. The company already operates or is testing vehicles in Seattle, Austin, Miami, Los Angeles, Atlanta, and Washington, D.C., in addition to its active robotaxi services in Las Vegas and San Francisco.
The Dallas expansion puts Zoox squarely in competition with Alphabet-owned Waymo, which recently announced it is dispatching robotaxis in Dallas as part of a broader expansion into 10 major U.S. metropolitan markets, with an initial limited rollout before opening up to all riders.
Amazon acquired Zoox for $1.3 billion in 2020. Since then, the company has slowly ramped up testing across more of the U.S. and launched a public robotaxi service on the Las Vegas Strip in September 2025, followed by a free early-rider program in San Francisco in November. By late 2025, Zoox had logged more than 1 million autonomous miles and transported more than 300,000 riders.
Zoox's purpose-built robotaxi is notable for operating without a steering wheel or pedals and is designed to travel in both directions - making it one of the most distinctive vehicles in the autonomous driving space.
No timeline has been announced for when Dallas residents might expect to see the purpose-built Zoox robotaxis on local roads or when a public rider program could launch in the city.
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