Zoox opens robotaxi plant to build 10,000 driverless cabs a year

Building a custom, fully driverless vehicle is hard. Setting up an assembly line to pump out 10,000 of them a year is an entirely different beast.

Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company Zoox has officially debuted a new manufacturing plant in Hayward, California. Spanning 220,000 square feet—roughly the size of 3.5 American football fields—the facility is built to produce over 10,000 robotaxis annually.

The launch signals Zoox’s shift from slow-rolling road tests into genuine commercial-scale assembly, bringing Amazon into direct combat with Waymo and Tesla.

From prototype pods to assembly lines

Right now, Zoox has just over 20 prototypes running tests across American cities. The company is laying the groundwork to debut commercial service in Las Vegas later this year, alongside plans to welcome public riders in San Francisco first.

Zoox said the plant expansion is aimed squarely at the expected surge in rider demand once doors open to the general public, as well as rollouts into new markets over the coming years.

Unlike its rivals, Zoox built its vehicle from a clean sheet. Shaped like a gondola on wheels, the bidirectional cabin completely ditches steering wheels, pedals, and the traditional driver seat, setting it far apart from the modified production vehicles fielded by competitors.

The chasing pack

Even with a 10,000-vehicle capacity, Zoox still has significant ground to cover against incumbents.

Alphabet’s Waymo remains the clear commercial frontrunner. Its driverless fleet is already hauling passengers in Phoenix, San Francisco, and parts of Los Angeles and Austin, with expansions planned for Atlanta, Miami, Washington, D.C., and Tokyo. By mid-2025, Waymo was racking up millions of fully autonomous rides every quarter with transparent safety logs.

Meanwhile, Tesla is readying its own robotaxi service debut on June 22. But that launch relies on modified Model Y SUVs running FSD, backed by remote human operators ready to intervene if things go wrong. It falls well short of Elon Musk’s ultimate vision of an unassisted, steering-wheel-free Cybercab.

Still, serious roadblocks threaten all three players. High build costs, regulatory headaches, and federal safety scrutiny loom large. Just last month, Zoox issued a voluntary software recall following a non-fatal collision in Las Vegas.

Why it matters

Zoox just turned the robotaxi contest from a software demonstration into a heavy industrial manufacturing race.

For everyday riders, Zoox represents the first genuine realization of what autonomous transit should feel like: a purpose-built, lounge-style pod without a driver's seat. But because designing bespoke vehicles from scratch is wildly expensive, everyday access will remain strictly limited to designated pockets of Las Vegas and San Francisco for now.

For the industry, Zoox’s move puts distinct pressure on both of its chief rivals. Waymo has conquered real-world route volume and safety trust, but it still relies on retrofitting third-party cars. Tesla talks up grand visions of bespoke Cybercabs, yet its initial service launch leans on human-monitored Model Ys.

We think Amazon-backed Zoox is making a clever, high-conviction bet by owning its hardware destiny from day one. That said, it is an extremely unforgiving strategy. High capital expenditures mean that whenever a safety glitch strikes—like last month's crash and subsequent recall—the financial and regulatory fallout on a dedicated assembly line will be exponentially harder to swallow.