Amazon subsidiary Zoox unveils autonomous driving car

Zoox's electric car transports passengers without a driver. A taxi service is expected to launch in the US before the end of the year.

Zoox was acquired by Amazon just last year, and now it has unveiled its first car. The autonomous driving electric car was specially designed for passengers. In the model, four people can take a seat. Two at a time sit opposite each other - similar to a gondola. There is no driver's seat and no steering wheel. The car travels at a top speed of 120 km/h. The batteries last up to 16 hours.

Zoox was founded in 2014. Amazon also hoped the purchase last year would speed package delivery. But it plans to launch a taxi service in San Francisco and Las Vegas using Zoox cars first. The launch is planned for later this year. "While the vehicle is not ready for commercial use now, this marks a milestone toward our vision of creating an autonomous robotic taxi fleet and ride-hailing service," the startup commented to CNBC about the milestone.