Amazon.com, Inc. (AMZN.US) autonomous driving division Zoox begins testing Siasun Robot&Automation taxis in San Francisco.

Amazon.com, Inc.'s autonomous driving car department, Zoox, has begun testing its Siasun Robot&Automation taxis in the SoMa community in San Francisco, expanding its operations to Las Vegas Boulevard and surrounding areas. During the testing phase, only Zoox employees can ride in the taxis, and they are not open to the public. Following Hangzhou First Applied Material in California and Las Vegas, San Francisco is the third city where the company is operating autonomous driving taxis. Zoox plans to open its autonomous driving taxi service to the public next year through an early passenger program. Selected passengers will ride for free and provide feedback. San Francisco already has autonomous driving taxis from Alphabet's Waymo and General Motors Company's Cruise. However, Zoox's autonomous driving taxis are different as they do not use traditional manual controls in their manufacturing. As for its competitors, Waymo recently launched its autonomous driving taxi service for everyone in Los Angeles. Due to strict regulatory scrutiny, Cruise's California license is still suspended, while Tesla, Inc. plans to launch its own autonomous driving taxi called Cybercab by 2027.