Zoox wins a 5,000-vehicle robotaxi exemption

Zoox won the first US commercial exemption for a purpose-built robotaxi without traditional manual controls, allowing a fleet of up to 2,500 vehicles annually for two years. The Amazon-owned company says the NHTSA approval lets it begin charging fares, starting in Las Vegas next month; the exemption covers eight federal motor-vehicle safety standards. For robotics operators, the decision turns an unusual vehicle architecture into a regulated commercial path and extends the simulation-to-deployment funnel described in the analysis of scarce physical testing.