While Elon Musk has been promising fully autonomous Teslas for years, Zoox, an Amazon—owned company, has made it easier by launching a commercial robotaxi service right in Las Vegas. And not just anywhere, but on the famous Strip, where ordinary taxi drivers risk their sanity every day by driving around drunk tourists and limousines with marriage parties.

It is symbolic that Vegas has become the testing ground for this daring venture. A city where betting on the impossible is common practice is now betting that algorithms will handle chaotic traffic better than humans. Although, to be honest, it's hard to imagine how a robomobile would react to a man in an Elvis costume suddenly jumping out of a casino.

A special feature of Zoox cars is their symmetrical design without steering wheel and pedals. Passengers are sitting facing each other, as if in a carriage, only instead of horses there is a complex system of lidars, cameras and radars. The manufacturer proudly claims that this is the world's first robomobile specifically designed for autonomous transportation, rather than being converted from a conventional car. Although it is not entirely clear why the absence of a steering wheel should inspire more confidence — rather, on the contrary, it creates the feeling that in a critical situation you will not be able to take control.

The route is still limited to three miles of Strip — apparently, the developers realize that their creation is not yet ready to face the real madness of Vegas roads. The service works 24/7, which should prove the system's ability to navigate in conditions of different lighting and traffic. Although it's probably even easier to navigate at night in Vegas, everything is lit up like it is during the day.

Interestingly, Zoox hires human drivers for remote monitoring, who are ready to take over at any moment. It's like playing a marionette game, where the puppeteer hides behind a screen, pretending that the doll is moving by itself. Was it worth building a vegetable garden if you still need a backup person in the end?

The economic feasibility of the enterprise also raises questions. At the current rate of payback, it seems it would be easier to hire ordinary taxi drivers for fifty years ahead. But apparently Jeff Bezos decided that he could afford such a toy, because it's much more interesting than just selling goods online.

Critics are already rubbing their hands, recalling the numerous failures of other companies in the field of autonomous driving. But Zoox is confident that their careful approach and limited range will help avoid catastrophic failures. Although, if something goes wrong, it will be the most spectacular failure in front of the entire gaming capital.

One can only hope that Zoox's algorithms have learned to recognize not only pedestrians and other cars, but also wedding processions that suddenly appear, fluttering showgirls and other attributes of Vegas life. Otherwise, riding in such a taxi may be more extreme than jumping with a bungee rope.