Robotaxi Rides: Tesla’s Delay, Waymo’s New York Expansion And Amazon’s New Zoox Factory

Tesla was set to launch its highly anticipated robotaxi in Austin, Texas—where it has its headquarters—on June 22, 2025, after numerous delays kept pushing the launch date.

Despite Tesla looking like it was in line to deliver on this promise with around 10 cars in a limited trial, CEO Elon Musk said the date was tentative and could still shift, as the company is “being super paranoid about safety.” Still, he was optimistic about its launch, saying, “First Tesla that drives itself from factory end of line all the way to a customer house is June 28.”

However, Tesla may be forced to face a lengthy delay, as several Democratic Texas lawmakers have asked the automaker to hold out until September, when new autonomous-driving laws are scheduled to come into effect. According to the group of lawmakers, this delay would be “in the best interest of both public safety and building public trust in Tesla's operations.”

Currently, Texas doesn’t have stringent autonomous vehicle (AVs) regulations, making it a good location for Tesla to test its robotaxis.

In case Tesla were to launch before the new laws take effect, the lawmakers requested the automaker to provide “detailed information” explaining how it would comply with the new laws when they go into effect.

Tesla didn’t respond to comments on the matter.


While Tesla is being asked to delay the launch of its robotaxis, its already established rival Waymo is finding more ways to expand its own fleet.

In a post on X, Waymo said it will soon be returning to New York to resume testing on the Big Apple streets. The robotaxi leader announced plans to expand to 10 new cities earlier this year.

“We want to serve New Yorkers in the future, and we’re working towards that goal,” read the post.

To meet these goals, Waymo has applied for a permit from the New York City Department of Transportation to drive autonomously with a specialist behind the wheel while in the city. Until it receives approval, Waymo plans to operate manually driven vehicles (robotaxis without the “robo”).

New York laws currently don’t allow vehicles without a driver behind the wheel to operate in the state. As such, Waymo is advocating for changes to state law to allow the company to bring its self-driving taxis.

The company has driven across New York’s streets before, when its manually driven vehicles visited Manhattan in 2021 to collect data and conduct tests.


At the same time, Waymo also revealed plans to expand further in areas it has operated in for a long time.

Through an X post, the company revealed that immediate expansions were coming in San Francisco and Silicon Valley, with Los Angeles to follow in a week.

In the San Francisco Bay Area, Waymo One users could begin accessing Brisbane, South San Francisco, San Bruno, Millbrae, and Burlingame, which touches San Francisco’s airport. In Silicon Valley—where Waymo is gradually adding riders—Menlo Park and surrounding areas will be added to Palo Alto, Los Altos, and Mountain View.

The Los Angeles expansion will see West Hollywood, Beverly Hills, Koreatown, Santa Monica, Culver City, Playa del Rey, Ladera Heights, and Echo Park join Silver Lake, Downtown Los Angeles (DTLA), and Inglewood.


Recently, Waymo also published a research paper that reveals the twelve acceptance criteria used to determine if its vehicles are ready for the road prior to deployment, while also describing the governance structure that guides our decision-making and ensures accountability at every step. 

Waymo's twelve criteria include System Safety, Cybersecurity, Verification and Validation, Collision Avoidance Testing, Predicted Collision Risk, Impeded Progress, Rules of the Road Compliance, Vulnerable Road Users Interactions, High Severity Assessment, Conservative Severity Estimates, Risk Management, and Field Safety.

“By being transparent about our process, we aim to support government officials and the public in understanding what ‘safe enough’ truly looks like for AV deployment,” said Mauricio Peña, Waymo’s Chief Safety Officer.

Furthermore, Waymo also conducted a study to determine if bigger models, trained on more data, with more compute, can deliver extraordinary gains for autonomous driving and establish new scaling laws in motion planning and forecasting—as such methods have brought about breakthroughs in artificial intelligence (AI).

“Our research confirms that, similar to language modeling, increased data and compute resources can enhance the performance of autonomous vehicles,” said Waymo. “These insights benefit not only the Waymo Driver but also have broader applications in embodied AI research, including robotics.”


Amid all this, Amazon-owned AV company Zoox has some major news related to its robotaxi initiative.

Zoox has opened its first full-fledged robotaxi serial production facility.

Through the 220,000 square foot facility—located in Hayward, California, and near its Foster City headquarters—Zoox plans to produce over 10,000 robotaxis per year, which will grow and scale to match its demand. The company is targeting multiple markets, beginning with Las Vegas, followed by San Francisco, and expanding to Austin, Miami, and others.

The new facility will be used for a wide range of operations, including engineering and software/hardware integration, assembly, storage of components, shipping and receiving, and end-of-line testing before deployment.

Zoox’s other assembly facility, located in Fremont, will transform into a dedicated facility for the Zoox retrofitted testing fleet and for sensor pod configuration.

Zoox will also use various robots to assist in building its robotaxis, which will work symbiotically with humans, who will remain an essential part—just as Amazon does. As per Zoox, the robots will be used for “applying adhesive for glass installation (which requires precision to avoid leaks and smudges) and transporting the robotaxi down the assembly line,” while the rest will be done manually.

As such, the facility is expected to generate hundreds of jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area, spanning jobs such as additional operators, logistics personnel, and assembly specialists.


Do you think Amazon’s Zoox will be able to compete with already established brands such as Waymo, especially considering how it’s expanding across the United States?

Do you think Tesla will delay its launch to remain on the good side of Texas lawmakers, or will it roll out to catch up in the robotaxi race?

Let us know in the comments below!