Autonomous on-demand vehicles will soon disrupt, displace and de-prioritize car ownership. Consider the myriad of ‘things’ required for vehicle ownership, then consider the best parts of urban mobility. For those of us who have been stuck staring at a sea of brake lights in our commute dreaming of better ways to use our time while stuck behind the wheel, it is about to materialize.
Having recently been acquired by Amazon Zoox is a prominent player in the emerging market of autonomous vehicles. Their focus is on designing and developing purpose-built, fully autonomous electric vehicles for urban mobility.
How Zoox Fits in The New Urban Landscape
- Purposeful Vehicle Design: Zoox has been working on vehicles specifically designed for autonomy with vehicles intended to optimize space, safety, and passenger experience, setting them apart from traditional vehicle designs.
- Robo-Taxi Fleet Vision: Zoox envisions a fleet of autonomous robo-taxis, contributing to a future where urban transportation is both convenient and sustainable. By offering a ride-sharing model, Zoox aims to reduce traffic congestion, emissions, and the need for personal vehicle ownership.
- Holistic Mobility Ecosystem: Zoox’s vision extends beyond just manufacturing autonomous vehicles. They strive to create a comprehensive mobility ecosystem that includes efficient ride-hailing services powered by their autonomous fleet, integrated with user-friendly interfaces and infrastructure.
- Safety as a Priority: Safety is at the core of Zoox’s approach. Their vehicles are designed to prioritize passenger and pedestrian safety, utilizing advanced technology for obstacle detection, collision avoidance, and adherence to traffic rules.
- Technological Innovation: Zoox heavily invests in cutting-edge technologies, including AI, computer vision, sensor fusion, and machine learning, to enable their vehicles to navigate complex urban environments autonomously. The company’s technological advancements continue to push the boundaries of autonomous vehicle capabilities.
- Environmental Sustainability: By focusing on electric vehicles, Zoox contributes to environmental sustainability. Their commitment to electric propulsion aligns with the broader industry trend towards reducing carbon emissions and promoting greener transportation alternatives.
- Competitive Landscape: In the competitive landscape of autonomous vehicles, Zoox competes with various tech and automotive companies striving to achieve similar autonomous mobility goals. Partnerships, strategic alliances, and staying ahead in technological advancements are crucial aspects of their competitive strategy.
Zoox is committed to revolutionizing urban transportation through autonomous vehicles and mobility services.
Travel and Trip Planning
Scheduling a trip or traveling with a Zoox vehicle is based on two key pieces of functionality. One is referred to as perception, the other is prediction, a combination of these make up the Zoox Planner. Planner combines information about the environment, the behavior of others and its data stream to establish a plan of action.
Zoox Technology – How Does it Work?
Perception
The Zoox perception system is the ‘eyes and ears’ of our vehicles. The data it collects helps it make sense of situations and scenarios in the real-world unfolding around it. For an autonomous vehicle, perception software has three main objectives: detecting objects and obstacles, tracking those objects over time, and determining their attributes (such as location, speed, and direction) and classifications.
Prediction
The integration of cutting-edge hardware, sensor technology, and bespoke machine learning (ML) approaches has resulted in an autonomous robotaxi that can predict the trajectories of vehicles, people, and even animals in its surroundings, as far as 8 seconds into the future — more than enough to enable the vehicle to make sensible and safe driving decisions.
“Predicting the future — the intentions and movements of other agents in the scene — is a core component of safe, autonomous driving,” says Kai Wang, director of the Zoox Prediction team
