The U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration on 6 Aug granted Amazon’s Zoox the first domestic exemption under its expanded Automated Vehicle Exemption Program, allowing the company’s purpose-built electric robotaxis—designed without steering wheels, pedals or mirrors—to operate in public road demonstrations. As part of the decision, the agency closed a safety probe it began in 2022 into whether Zoox’s self-certification met federal standards. Zoox must remove statements claiming full compliance with those standards, but NHTSA said the waiver satisfies safety requirements while fostering innovation. The ruling clears a regulatory hurdle ahead of Zoox’s plan to begin ride-hailing pilots later this year, starting in Las Vegas. The California-based unit, acquired by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, recently opened a factory that it says can build as many as 10,000 of the toaster-shaped vehicles annually. NHTSA’s move follows a series of recalls and investigations involving Zoox, including a May software update covering 270 vehicles after a low-speed crash in Las Vegas and an earlier probe into unexpected braking incidents. The exemption underscores the agency’s broader push to streamline approvals for autonomous vehicles as competition intensifies with rivals such as Alphabet’s Waymo.