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New York City has all the right traits to make it ideal terrain for robotaxis like those being developed by Amazon-owned Zoox. Few people in the Big Apple<\/a> own cars, and residents rely on public transit and ride-share apps like Uber<\/a> and Lyft<\/a>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt is the Holy Grail<\/a> for the business,\u201d Zoox CEO Aicha Evans said on stage at Fortune\u2019s Brainstorm Tech conference<\/a> in Park City, Utah, on Tuesday. \u201cBut it\u2019s not easy.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s one big problem for Zoox and other robotaxi companies eager to expand into the Northeast: snow. <\/p>\n Zoox\u2019s autonomous driving technology operates via mapping, Evans explained, and differences in the way snow is plowed or falls may alter the roads from those maps. In an interview after her on-stage talk, Evans told Fortune<\/em> that all robotaxi companies are doing additional research to be able to operate in the snow, but they haven\u2019t figured it out just yet. \u201cI don\u2019t want to mislead people that it\u2019s just an extension of what we\u2019re currently doing,\u201d she said. \u201cIt requires some additional innovation.\u201d<\/p>\n New Yorkers who have watched videos of friends in San Francisco or Los Angeles hitching rides in self-driving cars may have to be patient. Evans told Fortune after her on-stage talk at the conference that broad deployment in New York might not happen for some time, though \u201cdefinitely within a decade,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n While self-driving car rivals like Alphabet\u2019s Waymo and General Motors\u2019 Cruise have modified traditional automobiles by adding sensors and cameras, Zoox is focused on developing an entirely new class of vehicle, with no steering wheel or pedals for human drivers.\u00a0<\/p>\n Zoox has moved at a slower pace than Waymo and Cruise, which have already both launched commercial robotaxi services in San Francisco (Cruise has since exited<\/a> the San Francisco market after its self-driving license was suspended). Zoox, which was founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon in 2020, has yet to launch commercial passenger service, though it started offering employees rides early last year in Las Vegas and Foster City, Calif.<\/p>\n When asked about this, Evans shrugged off the idea that being first-to-market was important.<\/p>\n \u201cIn tech, sometimes being first has been good. And sometimes it hasn\u2019t,\u201d Evans said in the interview, noting she tries not to think about it. \u201cAre we doing the right things? Are we going at the right pace? Are we learning the right things? That\u2019s really what we focus on.\u201d<\/p>\n Read more coverage from Brainstorm Tech 2024:<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n Agility Robotics\u2019 humanoid Digit robot is working hard at its first real job\u2014at a Spanx factory<\/a><\/p>\n Google chief scientist Jeff Dean: AI needs \u2018algorithmic breakthroughs,\u2019 and AI is not to blame for brunt of data center emissions increase<\/a><\/p>\n Sequoia\u2019s Roelof Botha says Silicon Valley\u2019s legendary VC firm will not take a political point of view on the election<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>\n CEO Daily provides key context for the news leaders need to know from across the world of business. Every weekday morning, more than 125,000 readers trust CEO Daily for insights about\u2013and from inside\u2013the C-suite. Subscribe Now<\/a>.<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\nRecommended Newsletter:<\/strong><\/p>\n