Thanks to James for sending from L’Enfant Plaza.
ICYMI: “Amazon-Owned Zoox Brings Autonomous Vehicles to Washington, D.C.”
“As our first Mid-Atlantic testing location, D.C. presents a complex and unique street layout, along with seasonal weather challenges. The city’s street network includes many traffic circles, diagonal avenues, and high pedestrian and bicycle traffic. Additionally, D.C.’s mix of humid summers, occasional snowfall, and unpredictable rainfall creates diverse weather conditions for testing driving performance.
Washington, D.C. ranks among the largest ride-hailing markets in the U.S. and serves as a national hub for government, research, and mobility technology. With its growing population and high demand for flexible transport options, the District is an ideal next location and optimal place to begin testing and mapping our technology on the East Coast.
What comes next
As is standard when we enter a new city, we began by deploying a few vehicles from our Zoox testing fleet, which are retrofitted SUVs equipped with safety drivers, in the heart of Washington D.C. The fleet first starts by manually mapping within the geofence, before progressing to autonomous testing, which will commence later this year.”