Zoox Begins Robotaxi Testing in Houston

This one is outside the home energy space, so here's the plain news: the robotaxi company Zoox is starting to test self-driving cars in Houston later this month. Zoox already runs paid robotaxi service in 11 other cities, including Austin, Dallas, Miami, Phoenix, and the San Francisco Bay Area, and it recently became the first company approved to charge passengers for rides in vehicles with no steering wheel or pedals.

In Houston, the early testing will use regular SUVs fitted with Zoox's self-driving equipment, with a human safety driver in the car, rather than the company's custom-built robotaxi vehicles. Zoox says Houston is its most spread-out market yet, with complicated service roads, tricky merging spots, and weather extremes like intense heat, heavy rain, and flooding — all things that make the city a tougher test than its other locations. The company also plans to build a depot in Houston for charging and maintaining its vehicles.

This has no direct bearing on home energy upgrades or rebates. It's simply a sign of how fast robotaxi service is expanding across major U.S. cities, and Houston is now on that map. If you live there, you may start noticing test vehicles on the road in the coming weeks, though full paid service isn't part of this announcement.