Amazon.com Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) has said its robotaxi arm Zoox will begin testing its autonomous vehicles in Miami, Florida and Austin, Texas, representing its first set of trials outside of the west of the US.
Zoox will test out the self-driving tech in the two cities by using reworked Toyota Highlanders and having human safety drivers sit in the cars in case of emergency.
Tests have already been taking place in both California and Nevada, with Zoox using self-designed vehicles built for four passengers facing each other and without steering wheels or pedals.
Austin and Miami represent Zook’s fourth and fifth testing sites, having undergone work in San Francisco, Las Vegas and Seattle.
Back in May, an investigation was launched by the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, the US government agency, into Zoox’s fleet of automated vehicles after two crashes occurred.
Rivals such as General Motors’s Cruise and Google’s Waymo have also faced probes from the NHTSA regarding the safety and effectiveness of autonomous driving vehicles.
Cruise was forced to halt its test after one of its robotaxis crashed last October in San Francisco.
On Monday, the autonomous car specialist restarted its testing in Dallas, Texas, using a small set of human drivers.