A third self-driving taxi service is rolling out in Houston this month.
Zoox, an autonomous vehicle company owned by Amazon, announced this week that it would bring its fleet to Houston, its 12th market and third in Texas, after Austin and Dallas.
The vehicles won't initially roam the entire city; instead, they will be confined to "downtown, central tourist areas, and select residential neighborhoods," the company said in a release. Zoox did not specify which neighborhoods it would be operating in.
For residents who have grown used to seeing Waymos rolling by with an empty driver's seat, Zoox will offer a different sight. The autonomous cars are carriage-like, with two rows of seats facing each other. There is no driver's seat, and no steering wheel is visible.
In the release, Zoox described Houston as its most sprawling market to date, and highlighted unique challenges posed by the city's varied weather and streetscape.
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"Driving here means navigating complex service-road networks, unique merging scenarios, and challenging environmental conditions, including severe heat, heavy rain, and urban flooding," Zoox wrote. "It's a rigorous test of our technology across geography and terrain."
Autonomous vehicles have already had issues with flooding in Texas. Earlier this year, Waymo recalled 3,800 cars that struggled to navigate flooded roads, with some stopping in standing water in Austin.
Waymo recalls 3,800 cars after problems with standing water in flood-prone Texas cities
The first Zoox taxis on Houston's streets will not be self-driving. As it has in other markets, the company will start with drivers in the vehicles while they map the roads, before introducing autonomous vehicles to the streets.
Amazon is just the latest technology giant to bring its self-driving vehicles to Houston. Both Waymo - owned by Alphabet, the parent company of Google - and Tesla's robotaxis were launched in parts of the city earlier this year. Zoox was bought by Amazon for a reported $1.2 billion in 2020.
Houston's current driverless vehicles are restricted by geography. Waymo operates inside most of the Inner Loop, including Downtown, East Downtown, Midtown, Montrose, First and Fourth wards, the Heights, Upper Kirby, Rice Military and the Texas Medical Center. Teslas can be found in a 20-square-mile zone around Jersey Village, bounded by FM 1960 and US 290.
Zoox initially faced safety questions when it debuted in 2022.
After the company self-certified that its vehicles were safe for the road, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration spent three years investigating the company's vehicles before clearing them for the road in 2025. In July, Zoox recalled 105 of its robotaxis over issues when the cars failed to detect heavy smoke, such as that from a wildfire.
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This article originally published at Another robotaxi is coming to Houston - but this one has no steering wheel.