Amazon subsidiary Zoox is expanding its fully driverless robotaxi service to San Francisco and Las Vegas, according to a Reuters report cited by 24/7 Wall St.1. The expansion places Zoox in direct competition with Tesla's autonomous vehicle ambitions in two high-profile U.S. markets.
Zoox operates its robotaxis with no safety driver in the vehicle. The unit launched its first fully autonomous ride-hailing service in Las Vegas and has been testing vehicles across multiple U.S. cities. The San Francisco and Las Vegas expansions mark a broadening of that footprint into cities where Tesla has also signaled autonomous driving plans.
Tesla, by contrast, is only beginning to remove safety monitors as of January 2026. Prediction markets last November assigned as high as 57% odds that Tesla would launch robotaxis in California by June 30 — a deadline the company missed. Tesla's Las Vegas expansion is part of its planned H1 2026 robotaxi rollout.
Tesla shares traded around $340.62 on Monday, August 17, down 22.25% year-to-date. Only 44% of analysts are bullish on Tesla, with 17 Hold ratings and eight Sell or Strong Sell ratings. Amazon trades around $261.68, with a consensus analyst target of $280.47 and 63 Buy ratings against four Hold ratings.
A 24/7 Wall St. analysis examines a scenario where Tesla's stock could fall 70% if its autonomous vehicle lead erodes faster than the market expects.
ANALYSIS Zoox's expansion into San Francisco and Las Vegas with fully driverless operations — while Tesla has yet to remove safety monitors from its own vehicles — represents a concrete operational gap between the two companies' autonomous vehicle programs. The competitive dynamic is sharpened by the geographic overlap: both companies are targeting Las Vegas, and Zoox is now entering San Francisco as well.
The market data underscores a divergence in analyst sentiment: Amazon carries overwhelmingly positive coverage with 63 Buy ratings, while only 44% of analysts are bullish on Tesla, a split that tracks with the gap in autonomous vehicle deployment timelines between the two companies.