The race to offer autonomous rides in major U.S. cities is heating up. Zoox, Amazon's robotaxi subsidiary, said Wednesday that it's now offering rides in Las Vegas. Amazon stock was lower on a day that also saw Lyft expand its autonomous offerings.
The Amazon robotaxi service is offering free rides along the Las Vegas strip in its boxy Zoox cabs, with plans to expand throughout the city and begin charging for rides after "the necessary regulatory approval," according to a news release. The tech giant acquired Zoox in 2020 for $1.2 billion and has been testing its technology in Las Vegas and San Francisco in recent months.
Zoox is Amazon's entry into an autonomous taxi market currently led by Waymo, which is backed by Google parent Alphabet. Waymo surpassed 10 million paid rides earlier this year and operates in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Phoenix. Waymo's expansion plans include Dallas, Denver and Miami. The firm even has a permit to begin testing in New York City.
Meanwhile, Tesla launched a more limited robotaxi service in Austin earlier this year, which relies on human "safety drivers."
While Waymo's service utilizes standard vehicles outfitted with its autonomous technology, Zoox's cars are custom-designed. Riders sit facing each other, similar to a ski-resort gondola. There is no steering wheel for the Amazon robotaxi. Zoox also is testing its vehicles in San Francisco, Austin and Miami. The markets are listed as "coming soon" on Zoox's website.
Uber, Lyft Battle As Amazon Robotaxi Goes Live
Elsewhere, Lyft announced Wednesday that it is now offering autonomous rides in Atlanta through its app, in partnership with robotaxi developer May Mobility. Lyft riders will be able to hail a ride from a Toyota Sienna outfitted with May Mobility's technology in parts of the Georgia city. Lyft described the offering as a "pilot program" it hopes to expand later this year.
The move could offer a counter to Lyft's larger rival, Uber Technologies. Uber began offering autonomous rides through Waymo on its app in Atlanta in June.
Both Uber stock and Lyft stock have been pressured at points over the past 12 months by the swift growth of the robotaxi market. Investors fear that robotaxi firms like Waymo could upend the market for hailing rides through apps.
Both Uber and Lyft are positioning themselves as partners to robotaxi developers. Uber's biggest partnership is with Waymo. Waymo rides are available through the Uber app in Austin and Phoenix, along with Atlanta. Uber also announced in July that it would make "multi-hundred-million dollar investments" in both the startup Nuro and electric car company Lucid to develop a new robotaxi service.
Uber stock was down 1.4% to 94.14 in recent action on the stock market today. Shares have formed a cup-with-handle pattern with a buy point of 97.54, according to IBD MarketSurge.
Lyft stock, meanwhile, was up 2.3% to 18.82 in recent action. Shares broke out above a cup-with-handle buy point of 17.62 on Sept. 3. Gains Wednesday are pushing Lyft above a 5% buy zone from that entry.
Lyft stock has rallied 47% this year while Uber share are ahead 56% year to date.
Meanwhile, Amazon stock is down more than 3% to 230.84 in recent trades. The decline came as the Dow Jones Industrial Average was lagging Wednesday. Some investors may be fretting Oracle's rise means it's a potential cloud competitor to Amazon after the company's big earnings report late Tuesday.
With a 1.5% gain Monday, Amazon stock briefly broke out beyond a flat base buy point of 236.53 before pulling back, according to MarketSurge charts.
