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Another autonomous vehicle company is coming to Atlanta: Meet Zoox

The Amazon subsidiary is rolling out a test fleet with safety drivers this summer.
Zoox, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, is launching its test fleet in Atlanta this summer. (Courtesy of Zoox)
Zoox, a wholly-owned subsidiary of Amazon, is launching its test fleet in Atlanta this summer. (Courtesy of Zoox)
Emma Hurt

Zoox, the Amazon-owned autonomous vehicle company with retrofitted SUVs, is deploying a small test fleet to downtown Atlanta’s roads this summer.

Eight years after state lawmakers legalized self-driving cars on public Georgia roads, Atlanta has become a popular autonomous vehicle testing ground.

Both Lyft and Uber plan to broadly integrate autonomous vehicles into their platforms in the city this summer as well.

In a release Zoox called Atlanta “one of the largest ride-hailing markets in the United States” and a tech hub that “welcomes autonomous vehicle testing and innovation in many fields.”

Zoox vehicles have already been out and about in Atlanta this spring doing manual mapping and data collection, a spokesperson said.

This marks the seventh test market for the company. It plans to welcome public riders to its vehicles in Las Vegas and San Francisco later this year, but does not have a timeline for Atlanta yet.

The company declined to answer questions about how big the local test fleet is and exactly where they will be driving beyond “the downtown area.”

May Mobility this year brought driverless Toyota Sienna minivans to Atlanta roads in partnership with Lyft. The fleet is testing ahead of its own summer launch, according to Lyft.