Amazon’s (AMZN) autonomous vehicle company Zoox is expanding its testing to Washington, D.C.
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The addition of the U.S. capital brings Zoox’s testing of its self-driving vehicles to eight American cities: San Francisco, Las Vegas, Seattle, Austin, Miami, Los Angeles, and Atlanta. Zoox has already deployed several of its vehicles to Washington D.C.
The self-driving sport utility vehicles (SUVs) are equipped with safety drivers and are conducting manual mapping operations to begin their testing in the Washington, D.C. area, said Amazon in a news release. Autonomous driving testing is scheduled to begin by year’s end.
Complex Streets
Amazon said that it wanted to test Zoox vehicles in Washington D.C. because of the city’s complex streets that include numerous traffic circles and high pedestrian and bicycle traffic. The city’s weather, which includes humid summers and snowy winters, is expected to provide strong testing conditions for Zoox’s autonomous vehicles.
Earlier this year, Zoox launched its self-driving taxi service in Las Vegas, Nevada, becoming the first company to provide a fully driverless ride-hailing service using purpose-built autonomous vehicles. Amazon has said that its autonomous vehicle service will complement Washington, D.C.’s existing public transportation system.
Is AMZN Stock a Buy?
AMZN stock has a consensus Strong Buy rating among 44 Wall Street analysts. That rating is based on 44 Buy recommendations assigned in the last three months. The average AMZN price target of $266.39 implies 21.64% upside from current levels.
