Over the summer, the US Department of Transportation approved Amazon’s autonomous vehicle company, Zoox, to roll out several thousand cars over the next few years across the country, including Las Vegas.
And if you’ve driven anywhere near the Strip in recent months, you’ve seen them. It’s basically a shiny box on wheels; more akin to a toaster than anything else.
So, what does this mean for Nevada’s roadways and drivers?
"They want to become not just something new for visitors," said Mick Akers, the transportation reporter for the Las Vegas Review-Journal. "They want it to be an everyday thing, like where you can hail a lift to your house and go down to an event on the Strip, or you want to go to Summerlin, but live in Henderson. They want to be able to have those connections. So they're working toward that [through] a scaled approach."
However, there's already growing concern that the self-driving taxis could put human taxi and rideshare drivers out of business.
"They are worried.," said Akers. "They say, 'Hey, why are they approving some of these things when they know they're going to be taking jobs away from residents that live here in Southern Nevada?'"
Currently, the Nevada Transportation Authority has approved commercial permits allowing between 7,000 to 8,000 total self-driving taxis to operate in Clark County over the next year.
Guest: Mick Akers, transportation reporter, Las Vegas Review-Journal
