Amazon sent manually-driven cars decked out in sensors and other technology to test Columbus streets for the company's autonomous cars and robotaxis, called Zoox.
A company spokesperson said in an email statement the company has a small number of its retrofitted test fleet being manually driven by trained safety operators. One was spotted outside of WOSU Headquarters on East 14th Avenue on Monday.
The spokesperson said Ohio provides a variety of different weather conditions that Zoox can benefit in learning from, to further inform its testing in other urban areas.
The test fleet is able to drive autonomously and has been testing in cities like Miami, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Seattle and Austin since 2017.
The company's website said its testing fleet is critical for introducing the Zoox robotaxi on public roads. The company said that without it, Zoox couldn’t undertake initial steps for mapping and testing in a new city.
"We have no plans to offer the public rides in the testing fleet or operate them without a safety driver," the website said.
Zoox currently operates its robotaxis in Las Vegas and San Francisco.
Zoox markets itself as the future of ride-hailing, competing with companies like Uber and Lyft.
Zoox's website said riders can use an app to call one of the robotaxis. The robotaxis allow passengers to play music, adjust air temperature and it has a support button to contact a company representative for any safety concerns.
