By 2027, rideshare customers in Los Angeles may be picked up in a peculiar, futuristic vehicle that has no steering wheel, gear stick or gas pedal.

Zoox Inc., the driverless vehicle company based in Northern California, announced in mid-March it will be partnering with Uber Technologies Inc. to integrate its autonomous vehicles into Uber’s ride-hailing app. Both companies expect to launch its partnership in L.A. by mid-2027.

The company, an independent subsidiary of Amazon.com Inc., has quietly been on the roads of L.A. for about a year now. The company announced in April 2025 that it would begin mapping the city using a handful of retrofitted Toyota Highlander test vehicles armed with drivers.

However, the cars are only temporary. While Mountain View, California-based autonomous vehicle company Waymo operates in Los Angeles with retrofitted Jaguar electric vehicles, Zoox robotaxis are not likely to blend in with the rest of the cars on the road. The vehicles, built by Zoox, are  futuristic and bidirectional shuttles that allow passengers to sit across from each other, instead of facing the same way.

“The Zoox robotaxi is unlike any other vehicle on the planet,” Dara Khosrowshahi, the chief executive of Uber, said in a statement. “It was purpose-built from the ground up to deliver an extraordinary experience.”

These vehicles will map the area before the company deploys autonomous vehicles into the city. It’s the same strategy Zoox has employed in other cities it operates in – Las Vegas, San Francisco, Seattle, Miami and Austin.

While most cities have consistent driving rules, like when to yield or when to turn, different cities offer driving algorithms insight into how the local population drives, what roadwork needs to be maneuvered around and when city events will impact routes.

“Los Angeles has much to teach us,” the company said in a statement. “It is a vibrant city where people use ride-hailing and various modes of transportation to get around. Los Angeles is also well-known for its traffic congestion and car reliance.”

Slow and steady rollout

Zoox has been slowly navigating the streets of large cities.

In Las Vegas, Zoox service operates from 11 a.m. to 1 a.m. in the Las Vegas Strip and some of the surrounding area. The company is also beginning limited rides to attractions like the Sphere and T-Mobile Arena.

In San Francisco, Zoox is preparing to launch operations spanning a large chunk of the city sometime in spring. After mapping the streets of Austin beginning in mid-2024, Zoox is preparing to launch its vehicles in the city later this year.

Launching in smaller regions makes sense, according to Rahul Jain, a professor at the Viterbi School of Engineering at the University of Southern California. Autonomous vehicles need to be able to get a sense of all the unique conditions of a road, like the paving, potential bike paths and roads solely dedicated to buses.

“Some of the technology relies on what is called high-definition maps. The roads and the streets need to be remapped over and over again,” Jain said about autonomous vehicles generally. “If you have high-definition maps, then you can expect that it will be more reliable, and it will be safer.”