LOS ANGELES — The Bay Area-based robotaxi company Zoox is trying to get ahead of the competition with a significant expansion in San Francisco and Las Vegas and plans to launch in Austin, Texas, and Miami.

Zoox will quadruple its service area in San Francisco starting this spring, expanding rides to the eastern half of the city, including the Marina District, North Beach, Chinatown and Pacific Heights neighborhoods. The Amazon-backed company has been offering free rides to the public in San Francisco since November.

Zoox's radius was previously limited to the SoMa, Mission and Design District neighborhoods.

In Las Vegas, riders will soon be able to take a Zoox vehicle to the Sphere, the Las Vegas Convention Center and T-Mobile Arena. Zoox launched in Las Vegas last year, offering free rides to limited destinations along the strip.

The company announced a partnership with Uber this month that will make Zoox vehicles available through the Uber app in Las Vegas this summer and in Los Angeles starting in mid-2027. It's also preparing to launch service to and from the Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas.

"This expansion marks a significant step forward for Zoox," company Chief Executive Aicha Evans said in a statement. "We are actively implementing learnings to confidently and safely scale our robotaxi service across the country."

In less than a year, Zoox has driven nearly 2 million autonomous miles and carried more than 350,000 riders, the company said. Its sights are set on Austin and Miami, where it has been testing since 2024. The company said a wait list for Zoox rides will open in both cities later this year.

Its major expansion in San Francisco will allow Zoox to serve more riders and more easily compete with Waymo, the Alphabet-owned robotaxi company with a fleet of retrofitted Jaguars that swarm the Bay Area.

Zoox has a fleet of around 100, a company spokesperson said, but she did not disclose how many are in California. Waymo has more than 1,500 vehicles across the country.

Waymo has been expanding its service area in San Francisco over the last several years and has established a presence in nine other major cities, including Los Angeles and Austin. In the heated robotaxi race, Waymo currently has the lead.

Tesla launched robotaxi services in Austin last year, and Uber has several partnerships to bring new robotaxis to the roads, including with Volkswagen and the electric vehicle maker Lucid.

Zoox got its start in 2014 and was acquired by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020. Its purpose-built robotaxis differ from other self-driving cars on the road, which are retrofitted passenger cars. Zoox robotaxis have no gas pedal, steering wheel or other driver controls, and passengers sit facing each other inside the cabin.

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