Amazon, Alphabet, and Tesla Battle Over Robo-Taxis. Who’s Winning This AI Street Fight.

An Amazon Zoox robo-taxi drives on the Las Vegas Strip in August. (Justin Sullivan/Getty Images)

Key Points

• Amazon’s Zoox launched its “Explorers” program in San Francisco, offering free rides for feedback, and plans to expand to Austin and Miami.
• Waymo, operating in multiple cities, completes over 250,000 fully autonomous cab rides weekly. It is testing in New York, Tokyo, and London.
• Tesla received a permit to operate in Arizona, according to Reuters. Its CEO said earlier he hoped to have robo-taxis serving half the U.S. population by the end of 2025.

Self-driving cars are here, thanks to Big Tech, and they are slowly spreading across America.

Amazon -owned Zoox announced on Tuesday its “Explorers” program, an early-rider initiative that offers free rides for feedback, was live in San Francisco. Zoox already operates self-driving taxis in Las Vegas, with plans to add Austin, Texas, and Miami, soon.

In Austin, Zoox will join Tesla and Alphabet’s Waymo.

Tesla launched its robo-taxi service in June. Waymo, which also operates in Phoenix, San Francisco, Atlanta, and Los Angeles, completes more than 250,000 fully autonomous cab rides per week.

Tesla and Waymo, like Zoox, are planning to expand. Waymo is testing in New York, Tokyo, and London, to name three other cities. Tesla CEO Elon Musk said earlier in the year that he hoped Tesla robo-taxis would cover half the U.S. population by the end of 2025, but that is looking optimistic with only a few weeks left in the year.

Tesla, however, received a permit this month to operate in Arizona, according to Reuters.

The three companies are spending billions to use AI to train cars to drive themselves. Wall Street believes self-driving cars can generate trillions in value by driving down the cost of ride-hailing so that more people around the world opt for driverless cabs.

Americans drive more than 3 trillion miles per year. Ride-hailing currently accounts for a tiny fraction of that today.

Operating a car for the average American costs roughly $1 per mile driven. That is the target the self-driving ride-hailing companies are shooting for to get more people to opt for cab rides.

Who will win the self-driving wars isn’t known yet. More than one company will likely emerge with viable technology. For now, investors have focused on Tesla, with its $1.3 trillion valuation and 2026 price-to-earnings ratio of 180 times, as one of the big winners.

Amazon stock rose 0.1% on Wednesday, while the S&P 500 and Dow Jones Industrial Average gained 0.4% and 0.1%, respectively. Tesla stock gained 0.7%. Alphabet shares rose 3%.

Alphabet shares were boosted by strong performance from its latest AI model, Gemini 3.

Write to Al Root at allen.root@dowjones.com