Is Amazon's Zoox taxi even remotely safe?

AMAZON'S ZOOX, the toaster-shaped driverless pod that lacks a steering wheel, pedals, and anything resembling a hood, began rolling out in a small slice of Austin in recent weeks, with Miami close behind. The two cities join Las Vegas and San Francisco as the company's commercial markets, and the launches arrive just ahead of an NHTSA decision, expected this month, on whether Zoox can operate as many as 2,500 of its pods commercially.

Zoox has reason to feel confident. Since launching driverless service, the Amazon-owned upstart says its vehicles have driven nearly two million autonomous miles and carried over 350,000 riders, with more than 500,000 people on its waitlist. A recent partnership will put Zoox vehicles on Uber's app in Las Vegas this summer. Goldman Sachs reckons the robotaxi market will generate $7 billion in annual sales by 2030 and capture roughly 8% of the U.S. rideshare market. Waymo, the runaway incumbent, is already booking 400,000 paid rides a week across six metro areas.