Driverless taxi company Zoox to begin testing in Dallas, plans to launch autonomous ride-hailing service

Another autonomous vehicle company is making plans to operate on the streets of North Texas.

Zoox, an autonomous ride-hailing company owned by Amazon, announced on Monday that it is sending its testing fleet to Dallas. The testing vehicles are SUVs retrofitted with driverless technology and loaded with sensors and cameras. 

The vehicles will have human drivers as backup as they map the streets and collect data in the coming weeks, the company said in a news release.

Once that is completed, Zoox intends to deploy its purpose-built autonomous vehicles to take passengers around the city. The Zoox vehicles are designed around the passenger, not a driver, the company says. With a box-like shape and sliding doors on either side, the vehicles are more reminiscent of a small subway car on wheels than an automobile. There is no driver's seat; Two seats on either side face the middle, allowing passengers to face each other during their rides.

Zoox is already operating in San Francisco and Las Vegas, and plans to roll out soon in Austin and Miami. Along with Dallas, Zoox is also launching testing in Phoenix.