The two companies announced on Wednesday that Uber Technologies has signed a multi-year agreement to deploy Zoox's purpose-built autonomous vehicles on its platform, marking Zoox's first collaboration with a third-party ride-hailing service.

Although Zoox trails industry leader Waymo, a subsidiary of Alphabet, in deploying autonomous taxis, it has been gradually expanding its operations. The company launched limited services in Las Vegas at the end of last year and initiated a pilot passenger program in San Francisco.

On Monday, Zoox stated it would extend testing to Dallas and Phoenix, establishing a command center in Arizona to manage fleet operations.

This partnership adds to a series of collaborations between ride-hailing platforms and autonomous vehicle technology developers as the industry accelerates toward commercialization.

Uber has established partnerships with 25 autonomous technology developers and currently offers self-driving rides in cities such as Phoenix, Austin, Atlanta, and Dubai. The company plans to expand its services to 15 cities worldwide by the end of 2026, with the goal of becoming the world's largest autonomous ride-hailing service provider by 2029.

The collaboration announced on Wednesday will begin this summer in Las Vegas and is expected to expand to Los Angeles by mid-2027. Eligible passengers will be able to book rides in these autonomous vehicles through either the Zoox app or the Uber platform.

Founded in 2014 and acquired by Amazon for $1.3 billion in 2020, Zoox stands out with its unique boxy design. Its vehicles are built specifically for passengers, lacking steering wheels and pedals, rather than being retrofitted from traditional car platforms.

The company has completed over one million miles of autonomous driving and served more than 300,000 passenger trips.